Discriminating mild from critical COVID-19 by innate and adaptive immune single-cell profiling of bronchoalveolar lavages

Cell Res. 2021 Mar;31(3):272-290. doi: 10.1038/s41422-020-00455-9. Epub 2021 Jan 21.

Abstract

How the innate and adaptive host immune system miscommunicate to worsen COVID-19 immunopathology has not been fully elucidated. Here, we perform single-cell deep-immune profiling of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples from 5 patients with mild and 26 with critical COVID-19 in comparison to BALs from non-COVID-19 pneumonia and normal lung. We use pseudotime inference to build T-cell and monocyte-to-macrophage trajectories and model gene expression changes along them. In mild COVID-19, CD8+ resident-memory (TRM) and CD4+ T-helper-17 (TH17) cells undergo active (presumably antigen-driven) expansion towards the end of the trajectory, and are characterized by good effector functions, while in critical COVID-19 they remain more naïve. Vice versa, CD4+ T-cells with T-helper-1 characteristics (TH1-like) and CD8+ T-cells expressing exhaustion markers (TEX-like) are enriched halfway their trajectories in mild COVID-19, where they also exhibit good effector functions, while in critical COVID-19 they show evidence of inflammation-associated stress at the end of their trajectories. Monocyte-to-macrophage trajectories show that chronic hyperinflammatory monocytes are enriched in critical COVID-19, while alveolar macrophages, otherwise characterized by anti-inflammatory and antigen-presenting characteristics, are depleted. In critical COVID-19, monocytes contribute to an ATP-purinergic signaling-inflammasome footprint that could enable COVID-19 associated fibrosis and worsen disease-severity. Finally, viral RNA-tracking reveals infected lung epithelial cells, and a significant proportion of neutrophils and macrophages that are involved in viral clearance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptive Immunity*
  • Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid
  • Bronchoalveolar Lavage*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis*
  • COVID-19 / immunology*
  • Cell Communication
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Innate*
  • Lung / virology
  • Macrophages, Alveolar / cytology
  • Monocytes / cytology
  • Neutrophils / cytology
  • Phenotype
  • Principal Component Analysis
  • RNA-Seq
  • Single-Cell Analysis*
  • Th17 Cells / cytology