High generation of reactive oxygen species from neutrophils in patients with severe COVID-19

Tonny Veenith, Helena Martin, Martin Le Breuilly, Tony Whitehouse, Fang Gao-Smith, Niharika Duggal, Janet M Lord, Rubina Mian, David Sarphie, Paul Moss*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Neutrophilia and an elevated neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio are both characteristic features of severe COVID-19 infection. However, functional neutrophil responses have been poorly investigated in this setting. We utilised a novel PMA-based stimulation assay to determine neutrophil-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in patients with severe COVID-19 infection, non-COVID related sepsis and healthy study participants. ROS production was markedly elevated in COVID-19 patients with median values ninefold higher than in healthy controls and was particularly high in patients on mechanical ventilation. ROS generation correlated strongly with neutrophil count and elevated levels were also seen in patients with non-COVID related sepsis. Relative values, adjusted for neutrophil count, were high in both groups but extreme low or high values were seen in two patients who died shortly after testing, potentially indicating a predictive value for neutrophil function. Our results show that the high levels of neutrophils observed in patients with COVID-19 and sepsis exhibit functional capacity for ROS generation. This may contribute to the clinical features of acute disease and represents a potential novel target for therapeutic intervention.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10484
Number of pages9
JournalScientific Reports
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding:
The research was funded in part by Innovate UK, Project No. 56969, Project title: COVID-19: Development of novel algorithm-driven digital platform for assessing the Leukocyte ImmunoTest as a clinical parameter in monitoring vulnerability to coronavirus.

Copyright:
© 2022. The Author(s).

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Humans
  • Leukocyte Count
  • Neutrophils
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Sepsis

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