Abstract
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients exhibit diverse immune responses during acute infection, which are associated with a wide range of clinical outcomes. However, understanding these immune heterogeneities and their links to various clinical complications, especially long COVID, remains a challenge. In this study, we performed unsupervised subtyping of longitudinal multi-omics immunophenotyping in over 1,000 hospitalized patients, identifying two critical subtypes linked to mortality or mechanical ventilation with prolonged hospital stay and three severe subtypes associated with timely acute recovery. We confirmed that unresolved systemic inflammation and T-cell dysfunctions were hallmarks of increased severity and further distinguished patients with similar acute respiratory severity by their distinct immune profiles, which correlated with differences in demographic and clinical complications. Notably, one critical subtype (SubF) was uniquely characterized by early excessive inflammation, insufficient anticoagulation, and fatty acid dysregulation, alongside higher incidences of hematologic, cardiac, and renal complications, and an elevated risk of long COVID. Among the severe subtypes, significant differences in viral clearance and early antiviral responses were observed, with one subtype (SubC) showing strong early T-cell cytotoxicity but a poor humoral response, slower viral clearance, and greater risks of chronic organ dysfunction and long COVID. These findings provide crucial insights into the complex and context-dependent nature of COVID-19 immune responses, highlighting the importance of personalized therapeutic strategies to improve both acute and long-term outcomes.
Competing Interest Statement
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has filed patent applications relating to SARS-CoV-2 serological assays, NDV-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines influenza virus vaccines and influenza virus therapeutics which list Florian Krammer as co-inventor. Mount Sinai has spun out a company, Kantaro, to market serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 and another company, Castlevax, to develop SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Florian Krammer is co-founder and scientific advisory board member of Castlevax. Florian Krammer has consulted for Merck, Curevac, Seqirus, GSK and Pfizer and is currently consulting for 3rd Rock Ventures, Sanofi, Gritstone and Avimex. The Krammer laboratory is also collaborating with Dynavax on influenza vaccine development and with VIR on influenza virus therapeutics development. Viviana Simon is a co-inventor on a patent filed relating to SARS-CoV-2 serological assays (the "Serology Assays"). Ofer Levy is a named inventor on patents held by Boston Children's Hospital relating to vaccine adjuvants and human in vitro platforms that model vaccine action. His laboratory has received research support from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and is a co-founder of and advisor to Ovax, Inc. Charles Cairns serves as a consultant to bioMerieux and is funded for a grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. James A Overton is a consultant at Knocean Inc. Jessica Lasky-Su serves as a scientific advisor of Precion Inc. Scott R. Hutton, Greg Michelloti and Kari Wong are employees of Metabolon Inc. Vicki Seyfer-Margolis is a current employee of MyOwnMed. Nadine Rouphael reports grants or contracts with Merck, Sanofi, Pfizer, Vaccine Company and Immorna, and has participated on data safety monitoring boards for Moderna, Sanofi, Seqirus, Pfizer, EMMES, ICON, BARDA, and CyanVan, Imunon Micron. N.R. has also received support for meetings/travel from Sanofi and Moderna and honoraria from Virology Education and Krog consulting. Adeeb Rahman is a current employee of Immunai Inc. Steven Kleinstein is a consultant related to ImmPort data repository for Peraton. Nathan Grabaugh is a consultant for Tempus Labs and the National Basketball Association. Akiko Iwasaki is a consultant for 4BIO, Blue Willow Biologics, Revelar Biotherapeutics, RIGImmune, Xanadu Bio, Paratus Sciences. Monika Kraft receives research funds paid to her institution from NIH, ALA; Sanofi, Astra-Zeneca for work in asthma, serves as a consultant for Astra-Zeneca, Sanofi, Chiesi, GSK for severe asthma; is a co-founder and CMO for RaeSedo, Inc, a company created to develop peptidomimetics for treatment of inflammatory lung disease. Esther Melamed received research funding from Babson Diagnostics and honorarium from Multiple Sclerosis Association of America and has served on the advisory boards of Genentech, Horizon, Teva, and Viela Bio. Carolyn Calfee receives research funding from NIH, FDA, DOD, Roche-Genentech and Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative as well as consulting services for Janssen, Vasomune, Gen1e Life Sciences, NGMBio, and Cellenkos. Wade Schulz was an investigator for a research agreement, through Yale University, from the Shenzhen Center for Health Information for work to advance intelligent disease prevention and health promotion; collaborates with the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing; is a technical consultant to Hugo Health, a personal health information platform; cofounder of Refactor Health, an AI-augmented data management platform for health care; and has received grants from Merck and Regeneron Pharmaceutical for research related to COVID-19. Grace A McComsey received research grants from Rehdhill, Cognivue, Pfizer, and Genentech, and served as a research consultant for Gilead, Merck, Viiv/GSK, and Janssen. Linda N. Geng received research funding paid to her institution from Pfizer, Inc.