- Author:
Yingfeng ZHENG
1
;
Xiuxing LIU
1
;
Wenqing LE
2
;
Lihui XIE
1
;
He LI
1
;
Wen WEN
3
;
Si WANG
4
;
Shuai MA
4
;
Zhaohao HUANG
1
;
Jinguo YE
1
;
Wen SHI
1
;
Yanxia YE
5
;
Zunpeng LIU
5
;
Moshi SONG
4
;
Weiqi ZHANG
6
;
Jing-Dong J HAN
7
;
Juan Carlos Izpisua BELMONTE
8
;
Chuanle XIAO
1
;
Jing QU
9
;
Hongyang WANG
10
;
Guang-Hui LIU
11
;
Wenru SU
12
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords: COVID-19; aging; blood; immune cells; single-cell sequencing
- MeSH: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; genetics; immunology; Betacoronavirus; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; metabolism; Cell Lineage; Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; Coronavirus Infections; immunology; Cytokine Release Syndrome; etiology; immunology; Cytokines; biosynthesis; genetics; Disease Susceptibility; Flow Cytometry; methods; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Rearrangement; Humans; Immune System; cytology; growth & development; immunology; Immunocompetence; genetics; Inflammation; genetics; immunology; Mass Spectrometry; methods; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; immunology; Sequence Analysis, RNA; Single-Cell Analysis; Transcriptome; Young Adult
- From: Protein & Cell 2020;11(10):740-770
- CountryChina
- Language:English
- Abstract: Age-associated changes in immune cells have been linked to an increased risk for infection. However, a global and detailed characterization of the changes that human circulating immune cells undergo with age is lacking. Here, we combined scRNA-seq, mass cytometry and scATAC-seq to compare immune cell types in peripheral blood collected from young and old subjects and patients with COVID-19. We found that the immune cell landscape was reprogrammed with age and was characterized by T cell polarization from naive and memory cells to effector, cytotoxic, exhausted and regulatory cells, along with increased late natural killer cells, age-associated B cells, inflammatory monocytes and age-associated dendritic cells. In addition, the expression of genes, which were implicated in coronavirus susceptibility, was upregulated in a cell subtype-specific manner with age. Notably, COVID-19 promoted age-induced immune cell polarization and gene expression related to inflammation and cellular senescence. Therefore, these findings suggest that a dysregulated immune system and increased gene expression associated with SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility may at least partially account for COVID-19 vulnerability in the elderly.