CD40LG and COVID-19: Thirty-two SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with a negative RT-qPCR (i.e., Ct ≥ 38) at ≤ 21 DSSO were also included as COVID-19 control study group, hereafter referred to as non-persistent (NP), and 24 age- and gender-matched asymptomatic, non-infected individuals (confirmed by the absence of spike-specific IgM and IgG in the plasma) were selected as the reference group (NI) (Figure 1A).