RESUMEN
Patients with chronic lung disease (CLD) have an increased risk for severe coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and poor outcomes. Here, we analyze the transcriptomes of 611,398 single cells isolated from healthy and CLD lungs to identify molecular characteristics of lung cells that may account for worse COVID-19 outcomes in patients with chronic lung diseases. We observe a similar cellular distribution and relative expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry factors in control and CLD lungs. CLD AT2 cells express higher levels of genes linked directly to the efficiency of viral replication and the innate immune response. Additionally, we identify basal differences in inflammatory gene expression programs that highlight how CLD alters the inflammatory microenvironment encountered upon viral exposure to the peripheral lung. Our study indicates that CLD is accompanied by changes in cell-type-specific gene expression programs that prime the lung epithelium for and influence the innate and adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedades Pulmonares/genética , SARS-CoV-2/fisiología , Transcriptoma , Internalización del Virus , Células Epiteliales Alveolares/metabolismo , Células Epiteliales Alveolares/patología , Enzima Convertidora de Angiotensina 2/genética , Enzima Convertidora de Angiotensina 2/metabolismo , COVID-19/genética , COVID-19/patología , Enfermedad Crónica , Humanos , Fibrosis Pulmonar Idiopática/genética , Fibrosis Pulmonar Idiopática/patología , Inmunidad Innata/genética , Inflamación/genética , Pulmón/metabolismo , Pulmón/patología , Enfermedades Pulmonares/patología , SARS-CoV-2/patogenicidad , Replicación Viral/genéticaRESUMEN
Patients with chronic lung disease (CLD) have an increased risk for severe coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) and poor outcomes. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomes of 605,904 single cells isolated from healthy and CLD lungs to identify molecular characteristics of lung cells that may account for worse COVID-19 outcomes in patients with chronic lung diseases. We observed a similar cellular distribution and relative expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry factors in control and CLD lungs. CLD epithelial cells expressed higher levels of genes linked directly to the efficiency of viral replication and innate immune response. Additionally, we identified basal differences in inflammatory gene expression programs that highlight how CLD alters the inflammatory microenvironment encountered upon viral exposure to the peripheral lung. Our study indicates that CLD is accompanied by changes in cell-type-specific gene expression programs that prime the lung epithelium for and influence the innate and adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
