A single-cell atlas of the peripheral immune response in patients with influenza A virus infection

Influenza A virus (IAV) continues to be a critical global health problem, especially for vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women. While certain circulating cell subsets are thought to differentially modulate the immune response to IAV infection, the nature and function of these subsets is unclear. Our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the cellular subtypes and molecular characteristics of PBMCs across different populations with IAV infection. By revealing significant differences in immune responses to IAV among these populations, our study could aid in the development of immune intervention measures to control IAV and improve patient outcomes. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from healthy controls (HC), pregnant healthy controls (PHC), infected adults (IA), infected pregnant women (PI), and infected children (IC) using the Singleron Matrix® platform.