A human circulating immune cell landscape in aging and COVID-19.
Protein Cell
; 11(10): 740-770, 2020 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-709445
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
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Aging
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Single-Cell Analysis
/
Pandemics
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Immune System
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Protein Cell
Journal subject:
Biochemistry
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S13238-020-00762-2
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