Integrated single-cell analysis unveils diverging immune features of COVID-19, influenza, and other community-acquired pneumonia.
Alex R SchuurmanTom D Y ReijndersAnno SarisIvan Ramirez MoralMichiel SchinkelJustin de BrabanderChristine van LingeLouis VermeulenBrendon P SciclunaW Joost WiersingaFelipe A Vieira BragaTom van der PollPublished in: eLife (2021)
The exact immunopathophysiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) remains clouded by a general lack of relevant disease controls. The scarcity of single-cell investigations in the broader population of patients with CAP renders it difficult to distinguish immune features unique to COVID-19 from the common characteristics of a dysregulated host response to pneumonia. We performed integrated single-cell transcriptomic and proteomic analyses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a matched cohort of eight patients with COVID-19, eight patients with CAP caused by Influenza A or other pathogens, and four non-infectious control subjects. Using this balanced, multi-omics approach, we describe shared and diverging transcriptional and phenotypic patterns-including increased levels of type I interferon-stimulated natural killer cells in COVID-19, cytotoxic CD8 T EMRA cells in both COVID-19 and influenza, and distinctive monocyte compositions between all groups-and thereby expand our understanding of the peripheral immune response in different etiologies of pneumonia.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- single cell
- community acquired pneumonia
- coronavirus disease
- rna seq
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- immune response
- high throughput
- natural killer cells
- dendritic cells
- gene expression
- oxidative stress
- cell cycle arrest
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- density functional theory
- intensive care unit
- heat shock
- pi k akt
- heat stress