Two distinct immunopathological profiles in lungs of lethal COVID-19

Immune responses in lungs of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are poorly characterized. We conducted transcriptomic, histologic and cellular profiling of post mortem COVID-19 and normal lung tissues. Two distinct immunopathological reaction patterns were identified. One pattern showed high expression of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) and cytokines, high viral loads and limited pulmonary damage, the other pattern showed severely damaged lungs, low ISGs, low viral loads and abundant immune infiltrates. Distinct patterns of pulmonary COVID-19 immune responses correlated to hospitalization time and may guide treatment and vaccination approaches. Here we analyzed 34 post mortem lung samples from 16 deceased COVID-19 patients and 9 post mortem lung samples from 6 patients who died from non-infectious causes. Please note that each processed data file was gnerated from muliptle samples, as indicated in the corresponding sample description field.