Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Publication Title

Frontiers in immunology

Keywords

JGM, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, asymptomatic infection, disease severity, singlecell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), viral persistence

JAX Source

Front Immunol . 2022 Feb 22:13:812514.

Volume

13

First Page

812514

PMID

35281000

DOI

10.3389/fimmu.2022.812514

Grant

This study is supported in part by the Department of Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2020ZDXM2-SF- 02) (CZ and BS) and the operational funds from The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (CZ and BS).

Abstract

The cell-mediated protective and pathogenic immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection remain largely elusive. Here we identified 76 distinct cell subsets in the PBMC samples that were associated with various clinical presentations of COVID-19 using scRNA-seq technology coupled with a deep and comprehensive analysis of unique cell surface markers and differentially expressed genes. We revealed that (TRAV1-2CD8)MAIT cells and (NCAM1CD160)NK cells significantly enriched in the asymptomatic subjects whereas (LAG3CD160CD8)NKT cells increased in the symptomatic patients. We also observed that (CD68CSF1RIL1BCD14)classical monocytes were positively correlated with the disease severity. Moreover, (CD33HLA-DMACD14)classical monocytes and (CLEC10AS100A9)pDC were associated with the viral persistence. The GO and KEGG analyses identified enriched pathways related to immune responses, inflammation, and apoptosis. These findings may enhance our understanding of the immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 and help develop novel strategies against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Comments

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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