Figure 7.

IL-6 blockade reduces potential T cell suppressive factors and normalizes T cells in COVID-19 patients (COVACTA cohort)

(A) The EN-RAGE program is positively correlated with IL-6-induced suppressive myeloid genes (IL-10, IL-1b, PD-L1) and inversely correlated with T cell genes (FASL, LKRK1, TIGIT, CD160, IFNG, IL7R, CTLA4, XCL1, HAVCR2, TBX21, PRF1, GZMB, LAG3, GZMM, PDCD1, FOXP3). Spearman correlation coefficients are shown for bulk whole blood gene expression.

(B and C) Volcano plots of reduced expression of T cell genes shown in (A) (shown in red) in patients with greater baseline severity (requiring positive pressure ventilation) versus lower baseline severity (not requiring positive pressure ventilation) (B) and increased expression of T cell genes following 7 days treatment with tocilizumab (C). Dotted lines indicate absolute >0.5 log₂ fold change and FDR<0.05.

(D) Working model.