Project description:Single-cell RNA-seq of iPSC derived human kidney organoids. Single-nuclei RNA-seq data of COVID-19 patient autopsy kidney tissue. The current data was used to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury as well as a pro-fibrotic environment which could explain acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and also long-term effects potentially leading to the development of chronic kidney disease.
Project description:Extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19 have gained attention, not only due to their links to clinical outcomes, but also due to their potential long-term sequelae1. Recent evidence has shown multi-organ tropism of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), including heart, kidney and liver2. Previous studies have shown that close to 20% of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 develop liver injury, showing an association to disease severity3. Here, we identified a high frequency of liver enzyme alterations at admission in COVID-19 patients who required hospitalization. Then, we characterized SARS-CoV-2 liver tropism in autopsy samples, based on the expression of cell-entry facilitators in parenchymal cells, clinical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity, subgenomic SARS-CoV-2 identification using RNA sequencing, and viral RNA detection by in situ hybridization. Next, we unraveled the transcriptomic and proteomic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 liver tropism, revealing significant increases in interferon alpha and gamma signaling and compensatory liver-specific metabolic regulation. While these results reflect changes in tissues from patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, these profound molecular alterations raise questions about the potential long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection.
Project description:The objective of the study was to characterize the immunoreactivity profiles of IgG-reactive epitopes in COVID-19 patients with distinct disease trajectories as well as SARS-CoV-2-naïve sera, using a high-density SARS-CoV-2 whole proteome peptide microarray. The microarray comprised of a total of 5347 individual peptides, each consisting of 15 amino acids with an overlap of 13 amino acids printed in duplicate. The microarray also had a panel of the most relevant mutations from SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern like omicron, alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and others. This study consisted of 29 participants, including 10 naïve controls (5 pre-pandemic and 5 SARS-CoV-2 seronegative) and 19 RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients. The COVID-19 patients were stratified into two distinct cohorts based on their disease trajectories: the severe cohort (S), in which the patients presented moderate COVID-19 symptoms initially but eventually progressed toward severity; and the recovered cohort (R), in which severe COVID-19 patients progressed toward recovery. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the immunopathogenesis of COVID-19 in patients with different disease trajectories, the effect of mutations on immunoreactivity, and potential cross-reactivity due to exposure to common cold viruses.
Project description:SARS-CoV-2 infections initiate cytokine storms and activate genetic programs leading to progressive hyperinflammation in multiple organs of patients with COVID-19. While it is known that COVID-19 impacts kidney function, leading to increased mortality, cytokine response of renal epithelium has not been studied in detail. Here, we report on the genetic programs activated in human primary proximal tubule (HPPT) cells by interferons and their suppression by ruxolitinib, a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor used in COVID-19 treatment. Integration of our data with those from patients with acute kidney injury and COVID-19, as well as other tissues, permitted the identification of kidney-specific interferon responses. Additionally, we investigated the regulation of the recently discovered isoform (dACE2) of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the SARS-CoV-2 receptor. Using ChIP-seq, we identified candidate interferon-activated enhancers controlling the ACE2 locus, including the intronic dACE2 promoter. Taken together, our study provides an in-depth understanding of genetic programs activated in kidney cells.
Project description:In children and younger adults up to 39 years of age, SARS-CoV-2 usually elicits mild symptoms that resemble the common cold. Disease severity increases with age starting at 30 and reaches astounding mortality rates that are ~330 fold higher in persons above 85 years of age compared to those 18-39 years old. To understand age-specific immune pathobiology of COVID-19 we have analyzed soluble mediators, cellular phenotypes, and transcriptome from over 80 COVID-19 patients of varying ages and disease severity, carefully controlling for age as a variable. We found that reticulocyte numbers and peripheral blood transcriptional signatures robustly correlated with disease severity. By contrast, decreased numbers and proportion of naïve T cells, reported previously as a COVID-19 severity risk factor, were found to be general features of aging and not of COVID-19 severity, as they readily occurred in older participants experiencing only mild or no disease at all. Single-cell transcriptional signatures across age and severity groups showed that severe but not moderate/mild COVID-19 causes cell stress response in different T cell populations, and some of that stress was unique to old severe participants, suggesting that in severe disease of older adults, these defenders of the organism may be disabled from performing immune protection. These findings shed new light on interactions between age and disease severity in COVID-19.
Project description:Impaired immunometabolic response in the elderly regulates inflammation-driven COVID-19 severity which confers the greatest risk of mortality. To investigate how aging compromises defense against COVID-19, we developed a model of natural murine beta coronavirus (mCoV) infection with mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 (mCoV-A59) that recapitulated majority of hallmarks of COVID-19. Aged mCoV-A59-infected mice have increased mortality and higher systemic inflammation in the heart, adipose tissue and hypothalamus, including neutrophilia and loss of γδ T cells in lungs. Ketogenic diet increases beta-hydroxybutyrate, expands tissue protective γδ T cells, deactivates the inflammasome and decreases pathogenic monocytes in lungs during aging. These data underscore the value of mCoV-A59 model to test mechanism and establishes harnessing of ketogenic immunometabolic checkpoint as potential treatment against COVID-19 in the elderly.
Project description:Impaired immunometabolic response in the elderly regulates inflammation-driven COVID-19 severity which confers the greatest risk of mortality. To investigate how aging compromises defense against COVID-19, we developed a model of natural murine beta coronavirus (mCoV) infection with mouse hepatitis virus strain A59 (mCoV-A59) that recapitulated majority of hallmarks of COVID-19. Aged mCoV-A59-infected mice have increased mortality and higher systemic inflammation in the heart, adipose tissue and hypothalamus, including neutrophilia and loss of γδ T cells in lungs. Ketogenic diet increases beta-hydroxybutyrate, expands tissue protective γδ T cells, deactivates the inflammasome and decreases pathogenic monocytes in lungs during aging. These data underscore the value of mCoV-A59 model to test mechanism and establishes harnessing of ketogenic immunometabolic checkpoint as potential treatment against COVID-19 in the elderly.
Project description:Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) represent an emerging global crisis. However, quantifiable risk-factors for PASC and their biological associations are poorly resolved. We executed a deep multi-omic, longitudinal investigation of 309 COVID-19 patients from initial diagnosis to convalescence (2-3 months later), integrated with clinical data, and patient-reported symptoms. We resolved four PASC-anticipating risk factors at the time of initial COVID-19 diagnosis: type 2 diabetes, SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia, Epstein-Barr virus viremia, and specific autoantibodies. In patients with gastrointestinal PASC, SARS-CoV-2-specific and CMV-specific CD8+ T cells exhibited unique dynamics during recovery from COVID-19. Analysis of symptom-associated immunological signatures revealed coordinated immunity polarization into four endotypes exhibiting divergent acute severity and PASC. We find that immunological associations between PASC factors diminish over time leading to distinct convalescent immune states. Detectability of most PASC factors at COVID-19 diagnosis emphasizes the importance of early disease measurements for understanding emergent chronic conditions and suggests PASC treatment strategies.