The current status of gene expression profilings in COVID-19 patients

Mirolyuba Ilieva, Max Tschaikowski, Andrea Vandin, Shizuka Uchida*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Background: The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has swept through every part of the world. Because of its impact, international efforts have been underway to identify the variants of SARS-CoV-2 by genome sequencing and to understand the gene expression changes in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy donors using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) assay. Within the last two and half years since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, a large number of OMICS data of COVID-19 patients have accumulated. Yet, we are still far from understanding the disease mechanism. Further, many people suffer from long-term effects of COVID-19; calling for a more systematic way to data mine the generated OMICS data, especially RNA-seq data.

Methods: By searching gene expression omnibus (GEO) using the key terms, COVID-19 and RNA-seq, 108 GEO entries were identified. Each of these studies was manually examined to categorize the studies into bulk or single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) followed by an inspection of their original articles.

Results: The currently available RNA-seq data were generated from various types of patients' samples, and COVID-19 related sample materials have been sequenced at the level of RNA, including whole blood, different components of blood [e.g., plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), leukocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, T cells], nasal swabs, and autopsy samples (e.g., lung, heart, liver, kidney). Of these, RNA-seq studies using whole blood, PBMCs, nasal swabs and autopsy/biopsy samples were reviewed to highlight the major findings from RNA-seq data analysis.

Conclusions: Based on the bulk and scRNA-seq data analysis, severe COVID-19 patients display shifts in cell populations, especially those of leukocytes and monocytes, possibly leading to cytokine storms and immune silence. These RNA-seq data form the foundation for further gene expression analysis using samples from individuals suffering from long COVID.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere104
JournalClinical and Translational Discovery
Volume2
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2022

Bibliographical note

© 2022 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Discovery published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics.

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