AUTHOR=Bibert Stéphanie , Guex Nicolas , Lourenco Joao , Brahier Thomas , Papadimitriou-Olivgeris Matthaios , Damonti Lauro , Manuel Oriol , Liechti Robin , Götz Lou , Tschopp Jonathan , Quinodoz Mathieu , Vollenweider Peter , Pagani Jean-Luc , Oddo Mauro , Hügli Olivier , Lamoth Frédéric , Erard Véronique , Voide Cathy , Delorenzi Mauro , Rufer Nathalie , Candotti Fabio , Rivolta Carlo , Boillat-Blanco Noémie , Bochud Pierre-Yves , the RegCOVID Study Group , Pierre-Yves Bochud , Florian Desgranges , Paraskevas Filippidis , Benoit Guéry , David Haefliger , Eleftheria-Evdokia Kampouri , Oriol Manuel , Aline Munting , Jean-Luc Pagani , Matthaios Papadimitriou-Olivgeris , Jean Regina , Laurence Rochat-Stettler , Veronique Suttels , Eliana Tadini , Jonathan Tschopp , Mathias Van Singer , Benjamin Viala , Peter Vollenweider TITLE=Transcriptomic Signature Differences Between SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza Virus Infected Patients JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.666163 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2021.666163 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

The reason why most individuals with COVID-19 have relatively limited symptoms while other develop respiratory distress with life-threatening complications remains unknown. Increasing evidence suggests that COVID-19 associated adverse outcomes mainly rely on dysregulated immunity. Here, we compared transcriptomic profiles of blood cells from 103 patients with different severity levels of COVID-19 with that of 27 healthy and 22 influenza-infected individuals. Data provided a complete overview of SARS-CoV-2-induced immune signature, including a dramatic defect in IFN responses, a reduction of toxicity-related molecules in NK cells, an increased degranulation of neutrophils, a dysregulation of T cells, a dramatic increase in B cell function and immunoglobulin production, as well as an important over-expression of genes involved in metabolism and cell cycle in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 compared to those infected with influenza viruses. These features also differed according to COVID-19 severity. Overall and specific gene expression patterns across groups can be visualized on an interactive website (https://bix.unil.ch/covid/). Collectively, these transcriptomic host responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection are discussed in the context of current studies, thereby improving our understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis and shaping the severity level of COVID-19.