SARS-CoV-2 Impairs Dendritic Cells and Regulates DC-SIGN Gene Expression in Tissues

  1. Guoshuai Cai
  2. Mulong Du
  3. Yohan Bossé
  4. Helmut Albrecht
  5. Fei Qin
  6. Xizhi Luo
  7. Xiao Michelle Androulakis
  8. Chao Cheng
  9. Mitzi Nagarkatti
  10. Prakash Nagarkatti
  11. David C. Christiani
  12. Michael L. Whitfield
  13. Christopher I. Amos
  14. Feifei Xiao

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Abstract

The current spreading coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is highly infectious and pathogenic. In this study, we screened the gene expression of three host receptors (ACE2, DC-SIGN and L-SIGN) of SARS coronaviruses and dendritic cells (DCs) status in bulk and single cell transcriptomic datasets of upper airway, lung or blood of COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. In COVID-19 patients, DC-SIGN gene expression was interestingly decreased in lung DCs but increased in blood DCs. Within DCs, conventional DCs (cDCs) were depleted while plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) were augmented in the lungs of mild COVID-19. In severe cases, we identified augmented types of immature DCs (CD22+ or ANXA1+ DCs) with MHCII downregulation. In this study, our observation indicates that DCs in severe cases stimulate innate immune responses but fail to specifically present SARS-CoV-2. It provides insights into the profound modulation of DC function in severe COVID-19.

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  1. Version published to 10.3390/ijms22179228
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    Table 2: Resources

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    SentencesResources
    In addition, networks of genes with absolute value of the average of log2FC >1 were constructed using the Cytoscape StringAPP80.
    Cytoscape
    suggested: (Cytoscape, RRID:SCR_003032)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
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    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.12.23.20245316v1 on medRxiv