Cited by 737COVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomics

Immune cell profiling of COVID-19 patients in the recovery stage by single-cell sequencing

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Wen, Wen, Su, Wenru, Tang, Hao, Le, Wenqing, Zhang, Xiaopeng, Zheng, Yingfeng, Liu, Xiuxing, Xie, Lihui +10 more·2020·Cell Discovery

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Abstract

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has recently affected over 1,200,000 people and killed more than 60,000. The key immune cell subsets change and their states during the course of COVID-19 remain unclear. We sought to comprehensively characterize the transcriptional changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells during the recovery stage of COVID-19 by single-cell RNA sequencing technique. It was found that T cells decreased remarkably, whereas monocytes increased in patients in the early recovery stage (ERS) of COVID-19. There was an increased ratio of classical CD14 ++ monocytes with high inflammatory gene expression as well as a greater abundance of CD14 ++ IL1β + monocytes in the ERS. CD4 + T cells and CD8 + T cells decreased significantly and expressed high levels of inflammatory genes in the ERS. Among the B cells, the plasma cells increased remarkably, whereas the naïve B cells decreased. Several novel B cell-receptor (BCR) changes were identified, such as IGHV3-23 and IGHV3-7, and isotypes (IGHV3-15, IGHV3-30, and IGKV3-11) previously used for virus vaccine development were confirmed. The strongest pairing frequencies, IGHV3-23-IGHJ4, indicated a monoclonal state associated with SARS-CoV-2 specificity, which had not been reported yet. Furthermore, integrated analysis predicted that IL-1β and M-CSF may be novel candidate target genes for inflammatory storm and that TNFSF13, IL-18, IL-2, and IL-4 may be beneficial for the recovery of COVID-19 patients. Our study provides the first evidence of an inflammatory immune signature in the ERS, suggesting COVID-19 patients are still vulnerable after hospital discharge. Identification of novel BCR signaling may lead to the development of vaccines and antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19.

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  • Milder disease and recovery are linked to stronger clonal expansion of CD8+ T cells in lungs and blood, but causality is uncertain.

    “Milder disease and recovery have been associated with a more robust clonal expansion of CD8+ T cells in both the lungs and blood42,43, although whether this is the cause of milder disease or an effect of recovery is unclear.”

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Authors
Wen, W., Su, W., Tang, H., Le, W., Zhang, X., Zheng, Y., Liu, X., Xie, L., Li, J., Ye, J., Dong, L., Cui, X., Miao, Y., Wang, D., Dong, J., Xiao, C., Chen, W., & Wang, H.
Affiliations
  • Second Military Medical University (CN)
  • Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
  • Wuhan Hankou Hospital (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Chen, Wei
  • Wang, Hongyang
Venue
Cell Discovery
Published
2020-05-04
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
31-31
ISSN
2056-5968 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3021575042
Cited by
730
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 138 · 2021: 222 · 2020: 194
FWCI
20.71
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell Discovery (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81830054, 81988101,91859205, 81722034, 81670015, 81530028,81721003)
  • Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2018ZX09101002, 2017ZX100203205)
  • Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau (2019PJD059)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2016A030306006, 2020B1515020057)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, immune profiling, recovery stages, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, T cell depletion, monocytes, CD14+ monocytes, IL-1β, B cells, plasma cells, B cell receptor, IGHV3-23, inflammatory storm, macrophage colony-stimulating factor, cytokines, vaccine development

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