SARS-CoV-2 Infection Drives a Glycan Switch of Peripheral T Cells at Diagnosis

• Autor(a) principal: Alves, Inês
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Vicente, Manuel Machado, Gaifem, Joana, Fernandes, Ângela, Dias, Ana Mendes, Rodrigues, Cláudia Sousa, Oliveira, José Carlos, Seixas, Nair, Malheiro, Luis, Abreu, Miguel, Sarmento e Castro, Rui, Pinho, Salomé Soares
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.16/2813

COVID-19 is a highly selective disease in which SARS-CoV-2 infection can result in different clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic/mild to severe disease that requires hospitalization. In this study, we demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 infection results in a glycosylation reprogramming of circulating lymphocytes at diagnosis. We identified a specific glycosignature of T cells, defined upon SARS-CoV-2 infection and apparently triggered by a serological factor. This specific glycan switch of T cells is detected at diagnosis being more pronounced in asymptomatic patients. We further demonstrated that asymptomatic patients display an increased expression of a viral-sensing receptor through the upregulation of DC-SIGN in monocytes. We showed that higher levels of DC-SIGN in monocytes at diagnosis correlates with better COVID-19 prognosis. This new evidence pave the way to the identification of a novel glycan-based response in T cells that may confer protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic patients, highlighting a novel prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target.