Human dendritic cell and macrophage response to SARS-CoV-2 infection

The goal of this study is to use RNA-sequencing to profile the transcriptional changes in human PBMC derived dendritic cells and macrophages upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Specifically, we are interested in determining the cytokine and chemokine up-regulation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection at 2 hours post infection since cytokine storms were observed in severe COVID-19 patients. Multiple chemokines including IL-6 and CXCL10 were up-regulated by SARS-CoV-2 infection in both dendritic cells and macrophages, implying a potential detrimental effect of myeloid cells in exacerbating immunopathology of COVID-19 diseases. mRNA profiles of mock and SARS-CoV-2 infected human dendritic cells and macrophages were analyzed by bulk RNA-sequencing