Table 2_Transcriptome analysis of classical blood cells reveals downregulation of pro-inflammatory genes in the classical monocytes of long COVID patients.docx

Introduction<p>Despite extensive research, the pathogenesis and predispositions underlying long COVID (long-term coronavirus disease 2019) remain poorly understood.</p>Methods<p>To address this, we analyzed the immunological landscapes of 44 patients with long COVID and 44 matched...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Florian Fricke (22578656) (author)
Other Authors: Franz Mai (15414617) (author), Christine Wossidlo (22578659) (author), Felix Steinbeck (482724) (author), Wendy Bergmann-Ewert (18173677) (author), Marcel Kordt (9217807) (author), Karin Kraft (3710473) (author), Britta Müller (654337) (author), Emil C. Reisinger (11967198) (author), Brigitte Müller-Hilke (3160920) (author)
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Introduction<p>Despite extensive research, the pathogenesis and predispositions underlying long COVID (long-term coronavirus disease 2019) remain poorly understood.</p>Methods<p>To address this, we analyzed the immunological landscapes of 44 patients with long COVID and 44 matched convalescents using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and validated the findings with plasma cytokine measurements via Luminex technology.</p>Results<p>While the immune cell compositions showed minimal quantitative differences only among natural killer (NK) cells, the transcriptome analyses identified distinct gene expression patterns, particularly in classical monocytes: patients with long COVID exhibited downregulation of the inflammation-associated genes, including IL1B and CXCL2. Imputation of the transcription factor activity hinted at a reduced inflammasome activity (via SNAI1) and an impaired monocyte differentiation (via ATF2) in long COVID. The RNA velocity data supported the presence of immature classical monocytes in these patients.</p>Discussion<p>These findings show that monocytes might be dysregulated and/or exhausted in patients with long COVID.</p>