Comparison of the serological and COVID-19 specific T lymphocyte count evaluation results in hemodialysis patients referred to Imam Reza Hospital

Abstract

COVID-19-related immune responses in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are characterized in detail by the humoral response, but their cellular immunity has not been clarified. Here, we evaluated virus-specific T cells in parallel with serology-related tests.

Materials and Method In this study, 104 ESRD patients at the hemodialysis ward of Imam Reza hospital at Tabriz (Iran) were enrolled. After blood sampling, SARS-CoV2-specific Humoral and cellular immune responses were evaluated by SARS-CoV2- specific IgM/IgG ELISA and peptide/MHCI-Tetramers flow cytometry, respectively. Finally, the obtained data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software.

Results: Our results showed that 14 (13.5%) and 45 (43.3%) patients had specific SARS-CoV2 IgM and IgG in their sera, respectively. Immunophenotyping for SARS-CoV2-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes revealed that 68 (65.4%) patients had these types of cells. Among SARS-CoV2-Specific CD8+ T lymphocytes positive subjects, 13 and 43 individuals had positive results for specific SARS-CoV2 IgM and IgG existence, respectively. Also, there was a relationship between specific SARS-CoV2 IgM (p = 0.031) and IgG (p < 0.0001) existence and having SARS-CoV2-specific TCD8+ lymphocytes in the studied population.