Project description:Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to be excellent disease diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers in a wide range of chronic and acute inflammatory and infectious diseases including viral respiratory infection. Crucially, circulating miRNA levels are thought to reflect the state of the diseased tissue. Despite their proven value as mechanism-based clinical stratification indicators, miRNAs have only started being explored in the context of COVID-19. here, we aimed to explore whether integrating miRNA with other clinical and biological measurements would reveal more accurate correlates of COVID-19 severity and outcome, and to identify severity-specific correlations of miRNAs with COVID-19-associated inflammatory mediators, clinical parameters, and otucome.
Project description:The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in over 6.3 million deaths and 560 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. Clinical management of hospitalised patients is complex due to the heterogeneous course of COVID-19. Low-dose radiotherapy (LD-RT) is known to dampen localised chronic inflammation, and has been suggested to be used to reduce lung inflammation in COVID-19 patients. However, it is unknown whether SARS-CoV-2 alters the radiation response and associated radiation exposure related risk. We generated gene expression profiles from circulating leukocytes of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and healthy donors. The p53 signalling pathway was found to be dysregulated, with mRNA levels of p53, ATM and CHK2 being lower in COVID-19 patients. Several key p53 target genes involved in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and p53 feedback inhibition were up-regulated in COVID-19 patients, while other p53 target genes were downregulated. This dysregulation has functional consequences as the transcription of p53-dependant genes (CCNG1, GADD45A, DDB2, SESN1, FDXR, APOBEC) was reduced 24 h after X-ray exposure ex-vivo to both low (100 mGy) or high (2 Gy) doses. In conclusion, SARS-CoV-2 infection affects a DNA damage response that may modify radiation-induced health risks in exposed COVID-19 patients.
Project description:Multi-omics single-cell profiling of surface proteins, gene expression and lymphocyte immune receptors from hospitalised COVID-19 patient peripheral blood immune cells and healthy controls donors. Identification of the coordinated immune cell compositional and state changes in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection or LPS challenge, compared to healthy control immune cells.
Project description:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be asymptomatic or lead to a wide spectrum of symptoms, ranging from mild upper respiratory system involvement to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ damage and death. In this study, we explored the potential of microRNAs (miRNA) in delineating patient condition and in predicting clinical outcome. Analysis of the circulating miRNA profile of COVID-19 patients, sampled at different hospitalization intervals after admission, allowed to identify miR-144-3p as a dynamically regulated miRNA in response to COVID-19.
Project description:The lack of available biomarkers for diagnosing and predicting different stages of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently one of the main challenges that clinicians are facing. Recent evidence indicates that the plasma levels of specific miRNAs may be significantly modified in COVID-19 patients. Large-scale deep sequencing analysis of small RNA expression was performed on plasma samples from 40 patients hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (between March and May 2020) (median 13.50 [IQR 9–24] days since symptoms initiation) and 21 healthy noninfected individuals. Patients were categorized as hospitalized not requiring oxygen therapy (n = 6), hospitalized requiring low-flow oxygen (n = 23), and hospitalized requiring high-flow oxygen support (n = 11). A total of 1218 different micro(mi)RNAs were identified. When compared with healthy noninfected donors, SARS-CoV-2 infected patients showed significantly (fold change [FC] >1.2 and adjusted p [padj] <0.05) altered expression of 190 miRNAs. The top 10 differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs were miR-122-5p, let-7b-5p, miR-146a-5p, miR-342-3p, miR-146b-5p, miR-629-5p, miR-24-3p, miR-12136, let-7a-5p, and miR-191-5p, which displayed FC and padj values ranging from 153 to 5 and 2.51 × 10-32 to 2.21 × 10-21, respectively, which unequivocally diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infection. No differences in blood cell counts and biochemical plasma parameters, including interleukin 6, ferritin and D-dimer, were observed between COVID-19 patients on high-flow oxygen therapy, low-flow oxygen therapy, or not requiring oxygen therapy. Notably, 31 significantly deregulated miRNAs were found when patients on high- and low-flow oxygen therapy were compared. Similarly, 6 DE miRNAs were identified between patients on high flow and those not requiring oxygen therapy. SARS-CoV-2 infection generates a specific miRNA signature in hospitalized patients. Furthermore, specific miRNA profiles are associated with COVID-19 prognosis in severe patients.
Project description:To determine definitively whether lung myeloid cells exhibit a pro- or anti-inflammatory signature in COVID-19 disease, we performed digital spatial profiling using the nanoString GeoMx ImmuneOncology plus COVID-19 platform on CD68+ macrophages, myeloperoxidase+ granulocytes and cytokeratin+ epithelium in normal and COVID-19 lung tissue specimens, collecting RNA expression data for each type within 6-8 regions of 5mM tissue sections. One COVID-19 lung tissue yielded minimal sequence data and was excluded from analysis. A volcano plot and heat map of differentially expressed genes within macrophages demonstrate that COVID-19 lung macrophages when compared with normal lung macrophages exhibit a largely alternatively activated, wound-healing signature characterized by expression of the alternatively active macrophage marker CD163, complement/coagulation genes (C1QA, C1QB, THBS1, C1S, C1R), IL6 signaling (STAT2, STAT1) and wound healing (COL3A1, COL6A3), but also interferon response signatures (ISG15, OAS3, IFITM2, IFI6, HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C) (Fig. 3H-J). As one of the tissues used for macrophage spatial profiling was from a patient was positive for the virus at the time of death, we compared the expression profiles of virus+ and virus- specimens and found that macrophages in virus+ tissues predominantly expressed an interferon-associated signature
Project description:This study used SomaScan v 4.1 to profile>7000 proteins in human plasma and assess changes with Sars-Cov-2 infection and with Covid-19 disease severity in pregnant and non-pregnant individuals.
Project description:The objective of this experiment was to compare the transcriptomic profile (NanoString platform) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from COVID-19 patients with mild disease, and patients with severe COVID-19 with and without dexamethasone treatment, and healthy controls. We analyzed PBMCs from 4 mild COVID patients, 3 severe COVID patients,4 severe COVID patients treated with dexamethasone, and 5 healthy controls
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.