Recombinant human interleukin-2 corrects NK cell phenotype and functional activity in patients with post-COVID syndrome

Abstract

Post-COVID syndrome develops in 10–20% of people who have recovered from COVID-19 and it is characterized by impaired function of the nervous, cardiovascular, and immune systems. Previously, it was found that patients who recovered from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus had a decrease in the number and functional activity of NK cells. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of recombinant human interleukin-2 administered to correct NK cell phenotype and functional activity in patients with post-COVID syndrome. Patients were examined after 3 months for acute COVID-19 of varying severity. The phenotype of the peripheral blood NK cells was studied by flow cytometry. It was found that disturbances in the cell subset composition in patients with post-COVID syndrome were characterized by low levels of mature (p=0.001) and cytotoxic NK cells (p=0.013), with increased release of immature NK cells (p=0.023). Functional deficiency of NK cells in post-COVID syndrome was characterized by lowered cytotoxic activity due to the decreased count of CD57+ (p=0.001) and CD8+ (p 0.001) NK cells. In the treatment of patients with post-COVID syndrome with recombinant human interleukin-2, peripheral blood NK cell count and functional potential were restored. In general, the effectiveness of using recombinant human interleukin in treatment of post-COVID syndrome has been proven in patients with low levels of NK cells. This article is a translation of the article by Savchenko AA, Kudryavtsev IV, Isakov DV, Sadowski IS, Belenyuk VD, Borisov AG. Recombinant Human Interleukin-2 Corrects NK Cell Phenotype and Functional Activity in Patients with Post-COVID Syndrome. Pharmaceuticals. 2023;16(4):537. DOI: 10.3390/ph16040537 Published with the permission of the copyright holder.