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Blood transcriptomics analysis offers insights into variant-specific immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
- Source :
-
Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2024 Feb 02; Vol. 14 (1), pp. 2808. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 02. - Publication Year :
- 2024
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Abstract
- Bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of blood is typically used for gene expression analysis in biomedical research but is still rarely used in clinical practice. In this study, we propose that RNA-seq should be considered a diagnostic tool, as it offers not only insights into aberrant gene expression and splicing but also delivers additional readouts on immune cell type composition as well as B-cell and T-cell receptor (BCR/TCR) repertoires. We demonstrate that RNA-seq offers insights into a patient's immune status via integrative analysis of RNA-seq data from patients infected with various SARS-CoV-2 variants (in total 196 samples with up to 200 million reads sequencing depth). We compare the results of computational cell-type deconvolution methods (e.g., MCP-counter, xCell, EPIC, quanTIseq) to complete blood count data, the current gold standard in clinical practice. We observe varying levels of lymphocyte depletion and significant differences in neutrophil levels between SARS-CoV-2 variants. Additionally, we identify B and T cell receptor (BCR/TCR) sequences using the tools MiXCR and TRUST4 to show that-combined with sequence alignments and BLASTp-they could be used to classify a patient's disease. Finally, we investigated the sequencing depth required for such analyses and concluded that 10 million reads per sample is sufficient. In conclusion, our study reveals that computational cell-type deconvolution and BCR/TCR methods using bulk RNA-seq analyses can supplement missing CBC data and offer insights into immune responses, disease severity, and pathogen-specific immunity, all achievable with a sequencing depth of 10 million reads per sample.<br /> (© 2024. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2045-2322
- Volume :
- 14
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Scientific reports
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 38307916
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53117-w