Fig. 4

In severe COVID-19, lymphocyte dynamics correlate with disease progression. a, c, e Waterfall-plot representing correlation coefficient (r) of Spearman-correlation analysis between immune cell proportions of B cells, monocytes, lymphocytes, and granulocytes (a) or NK cells (c), or T cells (e) and disease duration as days after symptom onset (DASO) from ICUs (n = 58). Red columns represent significant results. Dotted lines represent the minimal Spearman-correlation coefficient (r) required for significant correlation. b, d, f Spearman-correlation analysis between proportions of plasmablasts (b), NK cells (d), or different T-cell populations (f) and DASO from ICUs (n = 58). G tSNE analysis of flow cytometry data from ICU (n = 58). A variance-value cutoff of 0.305 was used to identify significant differences within the ICU cohort. Patients were classified into two groups. Blue: late subgroup (n = 32), yellow: early subgroup (n = 26). h Heatmap of flow cytometry data including 98 immune cell populations from ICU (n = 58). A variance-value cutoff of 0.035 was used to identify significant differences within the ICU cohort. Samples and immune cell subsets were ordered according to hierarchical clustering. Blue to yellow scale represents the expression values normalized to mean=0, var=1. Missing values are displayed in white. i, j Representative immune cell proportions from early (n = 26) and late patients (n = 32) within the ICU cohort. Statistical analysis: Unpaired t test or Mann–Whitney test; Spearman correlation. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001