Hyperactive and damaging inflammation is a hallmark of severe rather than mild Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To uncover key inflammatory differentiators between severe and mild COVID-19, we applied an unbiased single-cell transcriptomic analysis. We integrated two single-cell RNA-seq datasets with COVID-19 patient samples, one that sequenced bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells and one that sequenced peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The combined cell population was then analyzed with a focus on genes associated with disease severity. The immunomodulatory long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) NEAT1 and MALAT1 were highly differentially expressed between mild and severe patients in multiple cell types. Within those same cell types, the concurrent detection of other severity-associated genes involved in cellular stress response and apoptosis regulation suggests that the pro-inflammatory functions of these lncRNAs may foster cell stress and damage. Thus, NEAT1 and MALAT1 are potential components of immune dysregulation in COVID-19 that may provide targets for severity related diagnostic measures or therapy.
【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, Apoptosis, Inflammation, Coronavirus disease 2019, therapy, severity, disease severity, diagnostic, Peripheral blood, BAL, immunomodulatory, Patient, Peripheral blood mononuclear cells, lncRNA, Mild, target, stress response, targets, Severe patient, long non-coding RNA, Bronchoalveolar lavage, Inflammatory, PBMCs, immune dysregulation, NEAT1, mononuclear cells, cell types, dysregulation, focus, mononuclear cell, foster, Regulation, damage, measure, hallmark, component, cell stress, cellular stress response, MALAT1, pro-inflammatory functions, cell population, Cell, analyzed, sequenced, involved, applied, differentially expressed, differentiator, pro-inflammatory function, single-cell RNA-seq dataset, single-cell transcriptomic analysis, with COVID-19, 【제목키워드】 severe COVID-19, single-cell, Analysis, non-coding RNA, Long, differentially expressed,