Intermediate monocytes expansion and homing markers expression in COVID-19 patients associate with kidney dysfunction

Patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection have an overwhelming inflammatory response characterized by remarkable organs monocyte infiltration. We performed an immunophenotypic analysis on circulating monocytes in 19 COVID-19 patients in comparison with 11 naïve HIV-1 patients and 10 healthy subjects. Reduced frequency of classical monocytes and increased frequency of intermediate monocytes characterized COVID-19 patients with respect to both HIV naïve patients and healthy subjects. Intensity of C–C motif chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) monocyte expression highly correlated with parameters of kidney dysfunction. Our data indicate that highly activated monocytes of COVID-19 patients may be pathogenically associated with the development of renal disease.