Coronavirus

CXCL10

Chemokine

CXCL9

T cell

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

CCL5

Immunology

Asymptomatic

Immune system

Cytokine

Inflammation

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Internal medicine

IL-2 receptor

Proinflammatory cytokine

Medicine

Disease

The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We investigated the serum cytokine and chemokine levels in asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and convalescent SARS-CoV-2–infected cases. Proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine production induced by SARS-CoV-2 were observed not only in symptomatic patients but also in asymptomatic cases, and returned to normal after recovery. IL-6, IL-7, IL-10, IL-18, G-CSF, M-CSF, MCP-1, MCP-3, IP-10, MIG, and MIP-1α were found to be associated with the severity of COVID-19. Moreover, a set of cytokine and chemokine profiles were significantly higher in SARS-CoV-2–infected male than female patients. The serum levels of MCP-1, G-CSF, and VEGF were weakly and positively correlated with viral titers. We suggest that combinatorial analysis of serum cytokines and chemokines with clinical classification may contribute to evaluation of the severity of COVID-19 and optimize the therapeutic strategies.

Serum Cytokine and Chemokine Profile in Relation to the Severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China