Expanding all these findings and providing new insights into the role of soluble immunomodulators during COVID19, we show that soluble ligands of the CD8+ T and NK cell activating receptor NKG2D from the MIC and ULBP families are specifically increased in moderate/severe COVID19 and in patients that die confirming the importance of NK cell regulation during COVID19. Here, KLRK1 is linked to COVID-19.