Prolonged immune activation in post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2: neutrophil dynamics and therapeutic insights
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Phodopus roborovskii
PROVIDER: GSE288927 | GEO | 2025/08/25
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Respiratory viral infections are being increasingly recognized not just for their acute impact but also as potential triggers of long-term health conditions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic in particular has highlighted the prevalence of this phenomenon, termed Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), which has rapidly evolved into a major public health concern. The underlying cellular and molecular etiology remain poorly defined but growing evidence links PASC to abnormal immune responses and/or impaired organ recovery post infection. Yet, the precise mechanisms linking non-resolving inflammation and impaired tissue repair in the context of PASC remain unclear. With insights from three independent clinical cohorts of PASC patients with abnormal lung function and/or viral infection-mediated pulmonary fibrosis, we established a clinically relevant mouse model of post-viral lung sequelae to investigate the pathophysiology of respiratory PASC. By employing a combination of spatial transcriptomics and imaging, we identified dysregulated interactions between immune cells and epithelial progenitors unique to the fibroproliferation in respiratory PASC. Specifically, we found a central role for lung-resident CD8+ T cell-macrophage interactions in maintaining Krt8hi transitional and ectopic Krt5+ basal cell progenitors, thus impairing alveolar regeneration and driving fibrotic sequelae after acute viral pneumonia. CD8+ T cell derived IFN-γ and TNF stimulated local macrophages to chronically release IL-1β, resulting in the abnormal accumulation of dysplastic epithelial progenitors and lung fibrosis. Notably, therapeutic neutralization of IFN-γ and TNF, or IL-1β after the resolution of acute infection resulted in markedly improved alveolar regeneration and restoration of pulmonary function. Together, our findings implicate an aberrant immune-epithelial progenitor niche in driving respiratory PASC. Moreover, in contrast to other approaches requiring early intervention, we highlight therapeutic strategies to rescue fibrotic disease in the aftermath of respiratory viral infections, addressing the current unmet need in the clinical management of PASC and post-viral disease.
2024-08-25 | GSE267228 | GEO
Project description:Respiratory viral infections are being increasingly recognized not just for their acute impact but also as potential triggers of long-term health conditions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic in particular has highlighted the prevalence of this phenomenon, termed Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), which has rapidly evolved into a major public health concern. The underlying cellular and molecular etiology remain poorly defined but growing evidence links PASC to abnormal immune responses and/or impaired organ recovery post infection. Yet, the precise mechanisms linking non-resolving inflammation and impaired tissue repair in the context of PASC remain unclear. With insights from three independent clinical cohorts of PASC patients with abnormal lung function and/or viral infection-mediated pulmonary fibrosis, we established a clinically relevant mouse model of post-viral lung sequelae to investigate the pathophysiology of respiratory PASC. By employing a combination of spatial transcriptomics and imaging, we identified dysregulated interactions between immune cells and epithelial progenitors unique to the fibroproliferation in respiratory PASC. Specifically, we found a central role for lung-resident CD8+ T cell-macrophage interactions in maintaining Krt8hi transitional and ectopic Krt5+ basal cell progenitors, thus impairing alveolar regeneration and driving fibrotic sequelae after acute viral pneumonia. CD8+ T cell derived IFN-γ and TNF stimulated local macrophages to chronically release IL-1β, resulting in the abnormal accumulation of dysplastic epithelial progenitors and lung fibrosis. Notably, therapeutic neutralization of IFN-γ and TNF, or IL-1β after the resolution of acute infection resulted in markedly improved alveolar regeneration and restoration of pulmonary function. Together, our findings implicate an aberrant immune-epithelial progenitor niche in driving respiratory PASC. Moreover, in contrast to other approaches requiring early intervention, we highlight therapeutic strategies to rescue fibrotic disease in the aftermath of respiratory viral infections, addressing the current unmet need in the clinical management of PASC and post-viral disease.
2024-08-25 | GSE267226 | GEO
Project description:Post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) represent an emerging global crisis. However, quantifiable risk-factors for PASC and their biological associations are poorly resolved. We executed a deep multi-omic, longitudinal investigation of 309 COVID-19 patients from initial diagnosis to convalescence (2-3 months later), integrated with clinical data, and patient-reported symptoms. We resolved four PASC-anticipating risk factors at the time of initial COVID-19 diagnosis: type 2 diabetes, SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia, Epstein-Barr virus viremia, and specific autoantibodies. In patients with gastrointestinal PASC, SARS-CoV-2-specific and CMV-specific CD8+ T cells exhibited unique dynamics during recovery from COVID-19. Analysis of symptom-associated immunological signatures revealed coordinated immunity polarization into four endotypes exhibiting divergent acute severity and PASC. We find that immunological associations between PASC factors diminish over time leading to distinct convalescent immune states. Detectability of most PASC factors at COVID-19 diagnosis emphasizes the importance of early disease measurements for understanding emergent chronic conditions and suggests PASC treatment strategies.
2022-02-01 | E-MTAB-10129 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) represents an urgent public health challenge, with its impact resonating in over 60 million individuals globally. While a growing body of evidence suggests that dysregulated immune reactions may be linked with PASC symptoms, most investigations have primarily centered around blood studies, with few focusing on samples derived from post-COVID affected tissues. Further, clinical studies alone often provide correlative insights rather than causation. Thus, it is essential to compare clinical samples with relevant animal models and conduct functional experiments to truly understand the etiology of PASC. In this study, we have made comprehensive comparisons between bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) data derived from clinical PASC samples and the relevant PASC mouse model. This revealed a strong pro-fibrotic monocyte-derived macrophage response in respiratory PASC (R-PASC) in both humans and mice, and abnormal interactions between pulmonary macrophages and respiratory resident T cells. IFN-g emerged as a key node mediating the immune anomalies in R-PASC. Strikingly, neutralizing IFN-g post the resolution of acute infection reduced lung inflammation and tissue fibrotic changes in a mouse model of R-PASC. Our study underscores the importance of performing comparative analysis to understand the root cause of PASC for developing effective therapies.
2024-07-16 | GSE263817 | GEO
Project description:Lung neutrophils are causally associated with IAV-induced disease severity. Less is known about the repertoire of lethal IAV-associated neutrophil proteins or about how global changes in different neutrophil compartments are coordinated following lethal IAV infection. Here, we use semi-quantitative proteomics to characterize dynamic alterations in BM, blood and lung neutrophils at homeostasis or following a lethal IAV infection, with a secondary aim of identifying lung neutrophil-derived proteins which are selectively induced following IAV infection. Our findings identify bone marrow neutrophil maturation as the key site of anti-viral activity induction, with further upregulation or release of both anti-viral and antimicrobial effectors occurring following lung tissue infiltration.
2019-05-29 | PXD012681 | Pride
Project description:Influenza A virus (IAV) causes severe respiratory infections and alveolar epithelial damage resulting in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Extracellular vesicles (EV) have been shown to mediate cellular crosstalk in inflammation by transfer of microRNAs. In this study, we found significant changes in the miRNA composition of EVs in the broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from patients with IAV-induced ARDS. Among the nine significantly deregulated microRNAs, miR-17-5p was upregulated in patients` BALF and in EVs of IAV-infected lung epithelial cells (A549). In these cells, transfer of miR-17-5p strongly downregulated expression of the antiviral factor Mx1 and significantly enhanced IAV replication.
2019-04-01 | GSE112728 | GEO
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how vulnerable a globally connected population is to the threat of newly emerging zoonotic viruses, exemplified by SARS-CoV-2. Despite considerable efforts to identify antivirals for coronaviruses (CoVs) in the last two decades, there exists only one FDA-approved, effective drug, Paxlovid which targets the essential SARS-CoV-2 main protease. Whilst effective in the acute phase of the pandemic, Paxlovid cannot be used by all patients, can lead to viral recurrence, and has not demonstrated an effect on post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), commonly known as Long COVID, an emerging significant health burden that remains poorly understood and untreated. Alternative orthogonal antivirals that are addressing broader patient needs, are urgently required. Herein we report our drug discovery efforts targeting PLpro, the second essential coronaviral protease, for which we have identified and developed a novel chemical scaffold that targets SARS-CoV-2 with low nanomolar activity. This chemical class also exhibits broad-spectrum activity against other pathogenic coronavirus PLpros. Our lead compound shows in vivo efficacy superior to Paxlovid in a mouse model of severe disease. Importantly, our mouse model of severe infection leads to long term pathologies matching closely those seen in PASC patients, including lung, heart, brain and gut dysfunctions. We show that our lead compound protects against long term lung and brain dysfunction in this model, whereas Paxlovid does not, providing a potential treatment option for PASC sufferers going forward.
2025-02-23 | PXD054356 | Pride
Project description:Long COVID or post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 remains an ongoing public health issue that causes impairment for those afflicted and diminishes their ability to contribute to society. To address the host response underpinning respiratory PASC, we used the golden hamster model infected with ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and examined its lung proteome in a longitudinal experiment. We infected young 6-week old male and female hamsters with 105 TCID50 of virus using a high volume intranasal inoculum and sampled the lung at 1, 3, 5, and 31 days post infection (dpi). We compared the infected lung proteome to that of uninfected sex-matched controls. We found almost no differences in protein levels at 1dpi, with hundreds at 3 dpi, and thousands at 5 dpi. Many overlapping differential protein levels and pathways were seen in both sexes at 3 and 5dpi including the Coagulation and Complement cascades. Notably, we found differences between the sexes at 31dpi which included many decreased levels of protein in the males. We also noted an increase in 7 proteins in both sexes at 31dpi including proteins responsible for airway mucosal layer integrity such as Mucin 5B and Calcium-activated chloride channel regulator 1. Longitudinally, there were more proteins changed at each timepoint in the males and only one in the females. Overall, we show that there are changes to the lung proteome at 31dpi, a time when no SARS-CoV-2 remains, and that there are sex differences in that proteome after infection with the ancestral strain. We conclude that biological sex should be examined as a variable when testing medical countermeasures for PASC in the golden hamster due to host differences between the sexes.
2024-04-29 | MSV000094634 | MassIVE
Project description:Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) play a crucial role in allergic diseases by coordinating a complex network of various effector cell lineages involved in type 2 inflammation. However, their function in regulating airway neutrophil infiltration, a deleterious symptom of severe asthma, remains unknown. Here, we observed ILC2-dependent neutrophil accumulation in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of allergic mice models. Chromatography followed by proteomics analysis identified the alarmin high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) in the supernatant of lung ILC2s initiated neutrophil chemotaxis. Genetic perturbation of Hmgb1 in ILC2s reduced BALF neutrophil numbers and alleviated airway inflammation. HMGB1 was loaded onto the membrane of lipid droplets (LDs) released from activated lung ILC2s. Genetic inhibition of LD accumulation in ILC2s significantly decreased extracellular HMGB1 abundance and BALF neutrophil infiltration. These findings unveil a previously uncharacterized extracellular LD-mediated immune signaling delivery pathway by which ILC2s regulate airway neutrophil infiltration during allergic inflammation.
2024-09-21 | GSE245964 | GEO
Project description:Transcriptome analyses were performed to further disentangle hypothalamic control of spontaneous daily torpor and seasonal adaptation, concentrating on the most extreme metabolic and seasonal states of the Djungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus). The data must be interpreted with respect to the metabolic and seasonal context, as described in the manuscript of the original research.
2021-12-29 | GSE179663 | GEO