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Physical phenotype of blood cells is altered in COVID-19

View ORCID ProfileMarkéta Kubánková, Bettina Hohberger, Jakob Hoffmanns, Julia Fürst, Martin Herrmann, View ORCID ProfileJochen Guck, View ORCID ProfileMartin Kräter
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.12.429482
Markéta Kubánková
1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light & Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Staudtstraße 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
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  • ORCID record for Markéta Kubánková
Bettina Hohberger
2Department of Ophthalmology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
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Jakob Hoffmanns
2Department of Ophthalmology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schwabachanlage 6, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
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Julia Fürst
3Department of Internal Medicine 1, University Medical Center Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
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Martin Herrmann
4Department of Internal Medicine 3, University Medical Center Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
5Deutsches Zentrum Immuntherapie (DZI), Erlangen, Germany
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Jochen Guck
1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light & Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Staudtstraße 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
6Department of Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
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  • For correspondence: jochen.guck@mpl.mpg.de
Martin Kräter
1Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light & Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Staudtstraße 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
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Abstract

Clinical syndrome coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is characterized by rapid spreading and high mortality worldwide. While the pathology is not yet fully understood, hyper-inflammatory response and coagulation disorders leading to congestions of microvessels are considered to be key drivers of the still increasing death toll. Until now, physical changes of blood cells have not been considered to play a role in COVID-19 related vascular occlusion and organ damage. Here we report an evaluation of multiple physical parameters including the mechanical features of five frequent blood cell types, namely erythrocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophils. More than 4 million blood cells of 17 COVID-19 patients at different levels of severity, 24 volunteers free from infectious or inflammatory diseases, and 14 recovered COVID-19 patients were analyzed. We found significant changes in erythrocyte deformability, lymphocyte stiffness, monocyte size, and neutrophil size and deformability. While some of these changes recovered to normal values after hospitalization, others persisted for months after hospital discharge, evidencing the long-term imprint of COVID-19 on the body.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 12, 2021.
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Physical phenotype of blood cells is altered in COVID-19
Markéta Kubánková, Bettina Hohberger, Jakob Hoffmanns, Julia Fürst, Martin Herrmann, Jochen Guck, Martin Kräter
bioRxiv 2021.02.12.429482; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.12.429482
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Physical phenotype of blood cells is altered in COVID-19
Markéta Kubánková, Bettina Hohberger, Jakob Hoffmanns, Julia Fürst, Martin Herrmann, Jochen Guck, Martin Kräter
bioRxiv 2021.02.12.429482; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.12.429482

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