Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 28, 2026
Characterization of Immune Cells and Proinflammatory Mediators in the Pulmonary Environment
Published on: June 24, 2020
T-Cell Subsets and Interleukin-10 Levels Are Predictors of Severity and Mortality in COVID-19: A Systematic Review
Amal F Alshammary1, Jawaher M Alsughayyir1, Khalid K Alharbi1
1Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Background:
Many COVID-19 patients reveal a marked decrease in their lymphocyte counts, a condition that translates clinically into immunodepression and is common among these patients. Outcomes for infected patients vary depending on their lymphocytopenia status, especially their T-cell counts. Patients are more likely to recover when lymphocytopenia is resolved. When lymphocytopenia persists, severe complications can develop and often lead to death. Similarly, IL-10 concentration is elevated in severe COVID-19 cases and may be associated with the depression observed in T-cell counts. Accordingly, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to analyze T-cell subsets and IL-10 levels among COVID-19 patients. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of the immunodepression observed in COVID-19, and its consequences, may enable early identification of disease severity and reduction of overall morbidity and mortality.
Methods:
A systematic search was conducted covering PubMed MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases for journal articles published from December 1, 2019 to March 14, 2021. In addition, we reviewed bibliographies of relevant reviews and the medRxiv preprint server for eligible studies. Our search covered published studies reporting laboratory parameters for T-cell subsets (CD4/CD8) and IL-10 among confirmed COVID-19 patients. Six authors carried out the process of data screening, extraction, and quality assessment independently. The DerSimonian-Laird random-effect model was performed for this meta-analysis, and the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for each parameter.
Results:
A total of 52 studies from 11 countries across 3 continents were included in this study. Compared with mild and survivor COVID-19 cases, severe and non-survivor cases had lower counts of CD4/CD8 T-cells and higher levels of IL-10.
Conclusion:
Our findings reveal that the level of CD4/CD8 T-cells and IL-10 are reliable predictors of severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. The study protocol is registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO); registration number CRD42020218918.
Systematic Review Registration:
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020218918, identifier: CRD42020218918.
Related Concept Videos
01:24T Cell Types and Functions
Th1 cells stimulate dendritic cells to express necessary co-stimulatory molecules on their surfaces for...
01:27Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...