AUTHOR=Xu Gang , Qi Furong , Wang Haiyan , Liu Yu , Wang Xin , Zou Rongrong , Yuan Jing , Liao Xuejiao , Liu Yang , Zhang Shuye , Zhang Zheng TITLE=The Transient IFN Response and the Delay of Adaptive Immunity Feature the Severity of COVID-19 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.816745 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2021.816745 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

COVID-19 patients show heterogeneous and dynamic immune features which determine the clinical outcome. Here, we built a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset for dissecting these complicated immune responses through a longitudinal survey of COVID-19 patients with various categories of outcomes. The data reveals a highly fluctuating peripheral immune landscape in severe COVID-19, whereas the one in asymptomatic/mild COVID-19 is relatively steady. Then, the perturbed immune landscape in peripheral blood returned to normal state in those recovered from severe COVID-19. Importantly, the imbalance of the excessively strong innate immune response and delayed adaptive immunity in the early stage of viral infection accelerates the progression of the disease, indicated by a transient strong IFN response and weak T/B-cell specific response. The proportion of abnormal monocytes appeared early and rose further throughout the severe disease. Our data indicate that a dynamic immune landscape is associated with the progression and recovery of severe COVID-19, and have provided multiple immune biomarkers for early warning of severe COVID-19.