tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Protein Cell
. 2020 Aug 11;1-31.
doi: 10.1007/s13238-020-00762-2. Online ahead of print.
A human circulating immune cell landscape in aging and COVID-19
Yingfeng Zheng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiuxing Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wenqing Le[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lihui Xie[SUP] 1 [/SUP], He Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wen Wen[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Si Wang[SUP] 4 5 6 7 [/SUP], Shuai Ma[SUP] 4 5 6 [/SUP], Zhaohao Huang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jinguo Ye[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wen Shi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yanxia Ye[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Zunpeng Liu[SUP] 8 6 [/SUP], Moshi Song[SUP] 4 5 6 [/SUP], Weiqi Zhang[SUP] 5 6 9 10 [/SUP], Jing-Dong J Han[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Chuanle Xiao[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jing Qu[SUP] 13 14 15 [/SUP], Hongyang Wang[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Guang-Hui Liu[SUP] 17 18 19 20 [/SUP], Wenru Su[SUP] 21 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Age-associated changes in immune cells have been linked to an increased risk for infection. However, a global and detailed characterization of the changes that human circulating immune cells undergo with age is lacking. Here, we combined scRNA-seq, mass cytometry and scATAC-seq to compare immune cell types in peripheral blood collected from young and old subjects and patients with COVID-19. We found that the immune cell landscape was reprogrammed with age and was characterized by T cell polarization from naive and memory cells to effector, cytotoxic, exhausted and regulatory cells, along with increased late natural killer cells, age-associated B cells, inflammatory monocytes and age-associated dendritic cells. In addition, the expression of genes, which were implicated in coronavirus susceptibility, was upregulated in a cell subtype-specific manner with age. Notably, COVID-19 promoted age-induced immune cell polarization and gene expression related to inflammation and cellular senescence. Therefore, these findings suggest that a dysregulated immune system and increased gene expression associated with SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility may at least partially account for COVID-19 vulnerability in the elderly.
Keywords: COVID-19; aging; blood; immune cells; single-cell sequencing.
. 2020 Aug 11;1-31.
doi: 10.1007/s13238-020-00762-2. Online ahead of print.
A human circulating immune cell landscape in aging and COVID-19
Yingfeng Zheng[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Xiuxing Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wenqing Le[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Lihui Xie[SUP] 1 [/SUP], He Li[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wen Wen[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Si Wang[SUP] 4 5 6 7 [/SUP], Shuai Ma[SUP] 4 5 6 [/SUP], Zhaohao Huang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jinguo Ye[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Wen Shi[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yanxia Ye[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Zunpeng Liu[SUP] 8 6 [/SUP], Moshi Song[SUP] 4 5 6 [/SUP], Weiqi Zhang[SUP] 5 6 9 10 [/SUP], Jing-Dong J Han[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Chuanle Xiao[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Jing Qu[SUP] 13 14 15 [/SUP], Hongyang Wang[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Guang-Hui Liu[SUP] 17 18 19 20 [/SUP], Wenru Su[SUP] 21 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32780218
- PMCID: PMC7417788
- DOI: 10.1007/s13238-020-00762-2
Abstract
Age-associated changes in immune cells have been linked to an increased risk for infection. However, a global and detailed characterization of the changes that human circulating immune cells undergo with age is lacking. Here, we combined scRNA-seq, mass cytometry and scATAC-seq to compare immune cell types in peripheral blood collected from young and old subjects and patients with COVID-19. We found that the immune cell landscape was reprogrammed with age and was characterized by T cell polarization from naive and memory cells to effector, cytotoxic, exhausted and regulatory cells, along with increased late natural killer cells, age-associated B cells, inflammatory monocytes and age-associated dendritic cells. In addition, the expression of genes, which were implicated in coronavirus susceptibility, was upregulated in a cell subtype-specific manner with age. Notably, COVID-19 promoted age-induced immune cell polarization and gene expression related to inflammation and cellular senescence. Therefore, these findings suggest that a dysregulated immune system and increased gene expression associated with SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility may at least partially account for COVID-19 vulnerability in the elderly.
Keywords: COVID-19; aging; blood; immune cells; single-cell sequencing.