scholarly journals A single-cell and spatial atlas of autopsy tissues reveals pathology and cellular targets of SARS-CoV-2

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni M. Delorey ◽  
Carly G. K. Ziegler ◽  
Graham Heimberg ◽  
Rachelly Normand ◽  
Yiming Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused over 1 million deaths globally, mostly due to acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, or direct complications resulting in multiple-organ failures. Little is known about the host tissue immune and cellular responses associated with COVID-19 infection, symptoms, and lethality. To address this, we collected tissues from 11 organs during the clinical autopsy of 17 individuals who succumbed to COVID-19, resulting in a tissue bank of approximately 420 specimens. We generated comprehensive cellular maps capturing COVID-19 biology related to patients’ demise through single-cell and single-nucleus RNA-Seq of lung, kidney, liver and heart tissues, and further contextualized our findings through spatial RNA profiling of distinct lung regions. We developed a computational framework that incorporates removal of ambient RNA and automated cell type annotation to facilitate comparison with other healthy and diseased tissue atlases. In the lung, we uncovered significantly altered transcriptional programs within the epithelial, immune, and stromal compartments and cell intrinsic changes in multiple cell types relative to lung tissue from healthy controls. We observed evidence of: alveolar type 2 (AT2) differentiation replacing depleted alveolar type 1 (AT1) lung epithelial cells, as previously seen in fibrosis; a concomitant increase in myofibroblasts reflective of defective tissue repair; and, putative TP63+ intrapulmonary basal-like progenitor (IPBLP) cells, similar to cells identified in H1N1 influenza, that may serve as an emergency cellular reserve for severely damaged alveoli. Together, these findings suggest the activation and failure of multiple avenues for regeneration of the epithelium in these terminal lungs. SARS-CoV-2 RNA reads were enriched in lung mononuclear phagocytic cells and endothelial cells, and these cells expressed distinct host response transcriptional programs. We corroborated the compositional and transcriptional changes in lung tissue through spatial analysis of RNA profiles in situ and distinguished unique tissue host responses between regions with and without viral RNA, and in COVID-19 donor tissues relative to healthy lung. Finally, we analyzed genetic regions implicated in COVID-19 GWAS with transcriptomic data to implicate specific cell types and genes associated with disease severity. Overall, our COVID-19 cell atlas is a foundational dataset to better understand the biological impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection across the human body and empowers the identification of new therapeutic interventions and prevention strategies.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Zhu ◽  
Anthony P Brown ◽  
Lucy Cai ◽  
Gerald Quon ◽  
Hong Ji

Background: Tet1 protects against house dust mite (HDM)-induced lung inflammation in mice and alters the lung methylome and transcriptome. We explored the role of Tet1 in individual lung epithelial cell types in HDM-induced inflammation. Methods: A model of HDM-induced lung inflammation was established in Tet1 knockout and littermate wildtype mice. EpCAM+ lung epithelial cells were isolated. Libraries were generated using the 10X Chromium workflow and sequenced. ScRNA-seq analysis was performed using Cell Ranger, scAlign, and Seurat. Cell types were labeled using known markers. Enriched pathways were identified using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Transcription factor (TF) activity was analyzed by DoRothEA. Single-cell trajectory analysis was performed with Monocle to explore Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cell differentiation. Results: AT2 cells were the most abundant among the eight EpCAM+ lung epithelial cell types. HDM challenge increased the percentage of alveolar progenitor cells (AP), broncho alveolar stem cells (BAS), and goblet cells, and decreased the percentage of AT2 and ciliated cells. Bulk and cell-type-specific analysis identified genes subject to Tet1 regulation and linked to augmented lung inflammation, including alarms, detoxification enzymes and oxidative stress response genes, and gene in tissue repair. The transcriptomic regulation was accompanied by alterations in TF activities. Trajectory analysis supports that HDM may enhance the differentiation of AP and BAS cells into AT2 cells, independent of Tet1. Conclusions: Collectively, lung epithelial cells had common and unique transcriptomic signatures of allergic lung inflammation. Tet1 deletion altered transcriptomic networks in various lung epithelial cells, with an overall effect of promoting allergen-induced lung inflammation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepa Bhartiya

AbstractLife-long tissue homeostasis of adult tissues is supposedly maintained by the resident stem cells. These stem cells are quiescent in nature and rarely divide to self-renew and give rise to tissue-specific “progenitors” (lineage-restricted and tissue-committed) which divide rapidly and differentiate into tissue-specific cell types. However, it has proved difficult to isolate these quiescent stem cells as a physical entity. Recent single-cell RNAseq studies on several adult tissues including ovary, prostate, and cardiac tissues have not been able to detect stem cells. Thus, it has been postulated that adult cells dedifferentiate to stem-like state to ensure regeneration and can be defined as cells capable to replace lost cells through mitosis. This idea challenges basic paradigm of development biology regarding plasticity that a cell enters point of no return once it initiates differentiation. The underlying reason for this dilemma is that we are putting stem cells and somatic cells together while processing for various studies. Stem cells and adult mature cell types are distinct entities; stem cells are quiescent, small in size, and with minimal organelles whereas the mature cells are metabolically active and have multiple organelles lying in abundant cytoplasm. As a result, they do not pellet down together when centrifuged at 100–350g. At this speed, mature cells get collected but stem cells remain buoyant and can be pelleted by centrifuging at 1000g. Thus, inability to detect stem cells in recently published single-cell RNAseq studies is because the stem cells were unknowingly discarded while processing and were never subjected to RNAseq. This needs to be kept in mind before proposing to redefine adult stem cells.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kip D. Zimmerman ◽  
Mark A. Espeland ◽  
Carl D. Langefeld

AbstractCells from the same individual share common genetic and environmental backgrounds and are not statistically independent; therefore, they are subsamples or pseudoreplicates. Thus, single-cell data have a hierarchical structure that many current single-cell methods do not address, leading to biased inference, highly inflated type 1 error rates, and reduced robustness and reproducibility. This includes methods that use a batch effect correction for individual as a means of accounting for within-sample correlation. Here, we document this dependence across a range of cell types and show that pseudo-bulk aggregation methods are conservative and underpowered relative to mixed models. To compute differential expression within a specific cell type across treatment groups, we propose applying generalized linear mixed models with a random effect for individual, to properly account for both zero inflation and the correlation structure among measures from cells within an individual. Finally, we provide power estimates across a range of experimental conditions to assist researchers in designing appropriately powered studies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinchu Vijay ◽  
Marie-Frédérique Gauthier ◽  
Rebecca L. Biswell ◽  
Daniel A. Louiselle ◽  
Jeffrey J. Johnston ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 721-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
M W Bolt ◽  
W J Racz ◽  
J F Brien ◽  
T M Bray ◽  
T E Massey

Treatment of cardiac dysrhythmias with the iodinated benzofuran derivative amiodarone (AM) is limited by pulmonary toxicity. The susceptibilities of different lung cell types of male Golden Syrian hamsters to AM-induced cytotoxicity were investigated in vitro. Bronchoalveolar lavage and protease digestion to release cells, followed by centrifugal elutriation and density gradient centrifugation, resulted in preparations enriched with alveolar macrophages (98%), alveolar type II cells (75-85%), and nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial (Clara) cells (35-50%). Alveolar type II cell and Clara cell preparations demonstrated decreased viability (by 0.5% trypan blue dye exclusion) when incubated with 50 µM AM for 36 h, and all AM-treated cell preparations demonstrated decreased viability when incubated with 100 or 200 µM AM. Based on a viability index ((viability of AM-treated cells ÷ viability of controls) × 100%), the Clara cell fraction was significantly (p < 0.05) more susceptible than all of the other cell types to 50 µM AM. However, AM cytotoxicity was greatest (p < 0.05) in alveolar macrophages following incubation with 100 or 200 µM AM. There was no difference between any of the enriched cell preparations in the amount of drug accumulated following 24 h of incubation with 50 µM AM, whereas alveolar macrophages accumulated the most drug during incubation with 100 µM AM. Thus, the most susceptible cell type was dependent on AM concentration. AM-induced cytotoxicity in specific cell types may initiate processes leading to inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis.Key words: amiodarone, susceptibility, alveolar macrophage, accumulation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (2) ◽  
pp. L358-L367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Unfried ◽  
Ulrich Sydlik ◽  
Katrin Bierhals ◽  
Alexander Weissenberg ◽  
Josef Abel

Treatment of lung epithelial cells with different kinds of nano-sized particles leads to cell proliferation. Because bigger particles fail to induce this reaction, it is suggested that the special surface properties, due to the extremely small size of these kinds of materials, is the common principle responsible for this specific cell reaction. Here the activation of the protein kinase B (Akt) signaling cascade by carbon nanoparticles was investigated with regard to its relevance for proliferation. Kinetics and dose-response experiments demonstrated that Akt is specifically activated by nanoparticulate carbon particles in rat alveolar type II epithelial cells as well as in human bronchial epithelial cells. This pathway appeared to be dependent on epidermal growth factor receptor and β1-integrins. The activation of Akt by these receptors is known to be a feature of adhesion-dependent signaling. However, intracellular proteins described in this context (focal adhesion kinase pp125FAK and integrin-linked kinase) were not activated, indicating a specific signaling mechanism. Inhibitor studies demonstrate that nanoparticle-induced proliferation is mediated by phosphoinositide 3-kinases and Akt. Moreover, overexpression of mutant Akt, as well as pretreatment with an Akt inhibitor, reduced nanoparticle-specific ERK1/2 phosphorylation, which is decisive for nanoparticle-induced proliferation. With this report, we describe the activation of a pathway by carbon nanoparticles that was so far known to be triggered by ligand receptor binding or on cell adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins.


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Rajbhandari ◽  
Douglas Arneson ◽  
Sydney K Hart ◽  
In Sook Ahn ◽  
Graciel Diamante ◽  
...  

Immune cells are vital constituents of the adipose microenvironment that influence both local and systemic lipid metabolism. Mice lacking IL10 have enhanced thermogenesis, but the roles of specific cell types in the metabolic response to IL10 remain to be defined. We demonstrate here that selective loss of IL10 receptor α in adipocytes recapitulates the beneficial effects of global IL10 deletion, and that local crosstalk between IL10-producing immune cells and adipocytes is a determinant of thermogenesis and systemic energy balance. Single Nuclei Adipocyte RNA-sequencing (SNAP-seq) of subcutaneous adipose tissue defined a metabolically-active mature adipocyte subtype characterized by robust expression of genes involved in thermogenesis whose transcriptome was selectively responsive to IL10Rα deletion. Furthermore, single-cell transcriptomic analysis of adipose stromal populations identified lymphocytes as a key source of IL10 production in response to thermogenic stimuli. These findings implicate adaptive immune cell-adipocyte communication in the maintenance of adipose subtype identity and function.


protocols.io ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Graves ◽  
Steven Evans ◽  
Michael Fauler ◽  
Manfred Frick ◽  
Sterghios A. Moschos
Keyword(s):  

1995 ◽  
Vol 268 (1) ◽  
pp. L21-L26 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Bukowski ◽  
S. M. Deneke ◽  
R. A. Lawrence ◽  
S. G. Jenkinson

Type II lung epithelial cells are different from other lung cell types in their means of processing and regulating intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels. In lung cell types, including endothelial cells, fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and macrophages, oxidants, sulfhydryl reagents, and electrophilic agents have been shown to induce cystine uptake and concomitantly increase GSH levels, suggesting that cysteine, formed by intracellular reduction of cystine, is a rate-limiting substrate for GSH synthesis. The cystine transport increase was reportedly due to increase in activity of a sodium-independent transport system designated xc-. We have now examined cultures of rat lung type II cells exposed to diethylmaleic acid and arsenite. Although a rise in cellular GSH occurred, cystine transport was not induced. Cystine transport in type II cells was found to differ from the xc- system previously described. Type II cell cystine transport is primarily sodium dependent and is inhibitable by aspartate as well as glutamate and homocysteate. We conclude that the type II cell differs from other lung cell types in both its cystine transport mechanism and method of GSH regulation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehuda Schlesinger ◽  
Oshri Yosefov-Levi ◽  
Dror Kolodkin-Gal ◽  
Roy Zvi Granit ◽  
Luriano Peters ◽  
...  

Abstract Acinar metaplasia is an initial step in a series of events that can lead to pancreatic cancer. Here we perform single-cell RNA-sequencing of mouse pancreas during the progression from preinvasive stages to tumor formation. Using a reporter gene, we identify metaplastic cells that originated from acinar cells and express two transcription factors, Onecut2 and Foxq1. Further analyses of metaplastic acinar cell heterogeneity define six acinar metaplastic cell types and states, including stomach-specific cell types. Localization of metaplastic cell types and mixture of different metaplastic cell types in the same pre-malignant lesion is shown. Finally, single-cell transcriptome analyses of tumor-associated stromal, immune, endothelial and fibroblast cells identify signals that may support tumor development, as well as the recruitment and education of immune cells. Our findings are consistent with the early, premalignant formation of an immunosuppressive environment mediated by interactions between acinar metaplastic cells and other cells in the microenvironment.


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