Long COVID manifests with T cell dysregulation, inflammation, and an uncoordinated adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2

Long COVID (LC) occurs after at least 10% of SARS-CoV-2 infections, yet its etiology remains poorly understood. We used “omic” assays and serology to deeply characterize the global and SARS-CoV-2-specific immunity in the blood of individuals with clear LC and non-LC clinical trajectories, 8 months post-infection. We found that LC individuals exhibited systemic inflammation and immune dysregulation. This was evidenced by global differences in T cell subset distribution implying ongoing immune responses, as well as by sex-specific perturbations in cytolytic subsets. LC individuals displayed increased frequencies of CD4+ T cells poised to migrate to inflamed tissues and exhausted SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells, higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and a mis-coordination between their SARS-CoV-2-specific T and B cell responses. Our analysis suggested an improper crosstalk between the cellular and humoral adaptive immunity in LC, which can lead to the immune dysregulation, inflammation a..., , , **READ ME FILE**

### General Information

Title: Long COVID manifests with T cell dysregulation, inflammation, and an uncoordinated adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2

Contact:

Nadia Roan, PhD

Gladstone Institutes

University of California, San Francisco

Dates of collection:

12/23/21 -- 2/16/22

Information about geographic location of data collection:

San Francisco Bay Area

Key Words:

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Long Covid, LC, CyTOF, T cells

### Data and File Overview

Included are 172 FCS files total from 86 different CyTOF specimens total. Each file name begins with the de-identified patient ID (PID), followed by whether the individual was classified as LC or Recovered (R) individual. Next, the file name indicates CD4+ or CD8+ T cells were analyzed. Finally, the file name indicates \"Atlas\" for samples that were analyzed at baseline, and \"resp\" for responding cells that were identified after spike peptide stimulation. The table at the end of this ReadMe file includes addit...