COVID-19 and Cancer: Discovery of Difference in Clinical Immune Indexes

• Published in: Journal of Immunology Research Vol. 2021; pp. 8669098 - 12
• Main Authors: Zeng, Xiaojiao, Jiang, Xianghu, Yang, Liu, Pan, Yunbao, Li, Yirong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Egypt Hindawi 18.10.2021; Hindawi Limited; Wiley
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cancer; CD16 antigen; CD19 antigen; CD3 antigen; CD4 antigen; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD56 antigen; CD8 antigen; Coronaviruses; Correlation analysis; COVID-19; COVID-19 - diagnosis; COVID-19 - immunology; COVID-19 - pathology; Cytokines; Cytokines - blood; Disease; Female; Females; Flow cytometry; Hematology; Humans; Immunology; Inflammation; Inflammation - blood; Inflammation - pathology; Interleukin 10; Interleukin 2; Interleukin 4; Interleukin 6; Killer Cells, Natural - immunology; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes B; Lymphocytes T; Lymphopenia; Lymphopenia - blood; Male; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Metastases; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Monocytes; Monocytes - immunology; Neoplasms - diagnosis; Neoplasms - immunology; Neoplasms - pathology; Neutrophils; Neutrophils - immunology; Patients; Respiratory diseases; Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2 - immunology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Variance analysis; Viruses; Young Adult; γ-Interferon; Taiwan
• ISSN: 2314-8861; 2314-7156
• DOI: 10.1155/2021/8669098

Objective. This study explored the consistency and differences in the immune cells and cytokines between patients with COVID-19 or cancer. We further analyzed the correlations between the acute inflammation and cancer-related immune disorder. Methods. This retrospective study involved 167 COVID-19 patients and 218 cancer patients. COVID-19 and cancer were each further divided into two subgroups. Quantitative and qualitative variables were measured by one-way ANOVA and chi-square test, respectively. Herein, we carried out a correlation analysis between immune cells and cytokines and used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to discover the optimal diagnostic index. Results. COVID-19 and cancers were associated with lymphopenia and high levels of monocytes, neutrophils, IL-6, and IL-10. IL-2 was the optimal indicator to differentiate the two diseases. Compared with respiratory cancer patients, COVID-19 patients had lower levels of IL-2 and higher levels of CD3+CD4+ T cells and CD19+ B cells. In the subgroup analysis, IL-6 was the optimal differential diagnostic parameter that had the ability to identify if COVID-19 patients would be severely affected, and severe COVID-19 patients had lower levels of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+ T cells, CD3+CD4+ T cells, CD3+CD8+T cells, and CD19+ B cells) and CD16+CD56+ NK cells and higher level of neutrophils. There were significant differences in the levels of CD3+CD4+ T cells and CD19+ B cells between T1-2 and T3-4 stages as well as IL-2 and CD19+ B cells between N0-1 and N2-3 stages while no significant differences between the metastatic and nonmetastatic cancer patients. Additionally, there were higher correlations between IL-2 and IL-4, TNF-α and IL-2, TNF-α and IL-4, TNF-α and IFN-γ, and CD16+CD56+NK cells and various subsets of T cells in COVID-19 patients. There was a higher correlation between CD3+CD4+ T cells and CD19+ B cells in cancer patients. Conclusion. Inflammation associated with COVID-19 or cancer had effects on patients’ outcomes. Accompanied by changes in immune cells and cytokines, there were consistencies, differences, and satisfactory correlations between patients with COVID-19 and those with cancers.