Transcriptomic Characteristics of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in COVID-19 Patients

31 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2020

See all articles by Yong Xiong

Yong Xiong

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease

Yuan Liu

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Liu Cao

Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) - School of Medicine

Dehe Wang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Ming Guo

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Dong Guo

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Wenjia Hu

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease

Jiayi Yang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Zhidong Tang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Qi Zhang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Mang Shi

Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) - School of Medicine

Yingle Liu

Wuhan University - State Key Laboratory of Virology

Yu Zhou

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Ke Lan

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Yu Chen

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS)

Date Written: March 6, 2020

Abstract

Circulating in China and 75 other countries and territories, the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has caused devastating mortality and posed a great threat to public health. However, efforts to identify effectively supportive therapeutic drugs and treatments has been hampered by our limited understanding of host immune response for this fatal disease. To characterize the transcriptional signatures of host inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, we carried out transcriptome sequencing of the RNAs isolated from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) specimens of COVID-19 patients. Our results reveal distinct host inflammatory cytokine profiles to SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients, and highlight the association between COVID-19 pathogenesis and excessive cytokine release such as CCL2/MCP-1, CXCL10/IP-10, CCL3/MIP-1A, and CCL4/MIP1B. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 induced activation of apoptosis and P53 signaling pathway in lymphocytes may be the cause of patients’ lymphopenia. The transcriptome dataset of COVID-19 patients would be a valuable resource for clinical guidance on anti-inflammatory medication and understanding the molecular mechansims of host response.

Funding: This study was supported by Special Fund for COVID-19 Research of Wuhan University, National Science and Technology Major Project (#2018ZX10733403), China NSFC grants (#81672008, 31871316), Hubei Natural Science Foundation (#2018CFA035), Basic Scientific Research Foundation of Central Universities (#2042019gf0026), Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Mega Project on Major Infectious Disease Prevention (#2017ZX10103005) and National Key Research and Development Program of China (#2018YFE0204500).

Declaration of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University. The RNA-seq analyses of BALF samples and PBMC were performed on existing samples collected during standard diagnostic tests, posing no extra burden to patients.

Keywords: COVID-19, Transcriptome profiling, Inflammation, Cytokine

undefined

Suggested Citation

Xiong, Yong and Liu, Yuan and Cao, Liu and Wang, Dehe and Guo, Ming and Guo, Dong and Hu, Wenjia and Yang, Jiayi and Tang, Zhidong and Zhang, Qi and Shi, Mang and Liu, Yingle and Zhou, Yu and Lan, Ke and Chen, Yu, Transcriptomic Characteristics of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in COVID-19 Patients (March 6, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3549993 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3549993

Yong Xiong

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease ( email )

China

Yuan Liu

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Liu Cao

Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) - School of Medicine ( email )

China

Dehe Wang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Ming Guo

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Dong Guo

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Wenjia Hu

Wuhan University - Department of Infectious Disease ( email )

China

Jiayi Yang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Zhidong Tang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Qi Zhang

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Mang Shi

Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) - School of Medicine ( email )

China

Yingle Liu

Wuhan University - State Key Laboratory of Virology ( email )

Wuhan, Hubei 430072
China

Yu Zhou

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Ke Lan

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

Yu Chen (Contact Author)

Wuhan University - College of Life Sciences (CLS) ( email )

Luojia Hill
Wuhan, 430072
China

0 References

    Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

    Paper statistics

    Downloads
    1,309
    Abstract Views
    5,629
    Rank
    32,541
    PlumX Metrics
    Plum Print visual indicator of research metrics
    • Citations
      • Citation Indexes: 15
    • Usage
      • Abstract Views: 5625
      • Downloads: 1309
    • Captures
      • Readers: 75
    • Social Media
      • Shares, Likes & Comments: 2
    see details