Single-cell gene expression sequencing of PBMCs from COVID-19-infected, influenza-infected, and healthy individuals

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is characterized by a high incidence of acute respiratory failure. Clinical trials are underway to treat and prevent this respiratory failure by modulating the inflammatory response. However, the nature of the underlying immunopathology in COVID-19 and how it compares to other severe respiratory diseases, including influenza, is not understood. We developed a prospective observational cohort of COVID-19 and influenza subjects with varying degrees of disease severity to directly compare immunopathology using identical techniques. To assess the quality and magnitude of the immune response, we quantified cytokine concentrations and peripheral blood cell subsets. Additionally, we performed single-cell RNA transcriptional profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from select subjects. Note: BioSample SAMN14275543 / SRA accession SRR11233662 was also used as a healthy donor PBMC sample for this study.