SARS-CoV-2 infection of thymus induces loss of function which correlates with disease severity

Lymphopenia, particularly restricted to the T-cell compartment, has been described as one of the major clinical hallmarks in COVID-19 patients and proposed as a disease severity indicator. Although several mechanisms fostering COVID-19-related lymphopenia have been described, including cell apoptosis and tissue homing, the underlying causes of the decline in T-cell count and function are still not completely understood. We developed in vitro culture system of primary human thymic epithelial cells (TECs) to investigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on their gene expression profile using RNA sequencing.