RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Single cell transcriptomic re-analysis of immune cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids reveals the correlation of B cell characteristics and disease severity of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.11.09.374272
DO 10.1101/2020.11.09.374272
A1 Chae Won Kim
A1 Ji Eun Oh
A1 Heung Kyu Lee
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/11/09/2020.11.09.374272.abstract
AB The COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) is a global infectious disease with rapid spread. Some patients have severe symptoms and clinical signs caused by an excessive inflammatory response, which increases the risk of mortality. In this study, we reanalyzed scRNA-seq data of cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of patients with COVID-19 with mild and severe symptoms, focusing on antibody-producing cells. In patients with severe disease, B cells seemed to be more activated and expressed more immunoglobulin genes compared with cells from patients with mild disease, and macrophages expressed higher levels of the TNF superfamily member B-cell activating factor but not of APRIL (a proliferation-inducing ligand). In addition, macrophages from patients with severe disease had increased pro-inflammatory features and pathways associated with Fc receptor-mediated signaling, compared with patients with mild disease. CCR2-positive plasma cells accumulated in patients with severe disease, probably because of increased CCL2 expression on macrophages from patients with severe disease. Together, these results support that different characteristics of B cells might affect the severity of COVID-19 infection.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.