Transcriptional patterns of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with different severity and outcome

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a highly contagious disease, spreading quickly and threatening global public health. The symptoms of the disease vary from mild reactions to severe respiratory distress or even fatal outcomes probably due to the different status of innate immunity which is the first line to combat the virus. Here in the study, we unveiled the underlying transcriptional patterns of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with different severity and outcome. Through systemic analysis, an anti-microbe peptide, a-defensin-1 (DEFA1) was identified to be elevated in both plasma and PBMCs in COVID19 patients, and the function and mechanism is studied. Overall design: PBMC samples from the patients and normal controls were lyzed with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, USA) to extract the total RNA respectively for the subsequent transcriptome sequencing. A total RNA of 10 mg for each sample was obtained to generate the RNA cDNA sequencing library to following a previous study with some adjustments. The mRNA libraries were purified and quantified for the sequencing analysis with Illumina HiSeq™ 2500 analyzer (Illumina, San Diego, United States) according the of the manufacturer's instructions per RNA sample. The entire operating processes of the experiment were performed with the help of the Shanghai NovelBio Bio-Pharm Technology Co.,Ltd.