Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Single-cell genomics have revolutionized the granularity with which we can dissect cellular phenotypes in both health and disease. Global atlases of homeostatic tissues have revealed rare cell populations critical to organ function and provide comprehensive genomic reference maps for the scientific...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Miao, Vincent N.
Other Authors: Shalek, Alex K.
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2023
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152793
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4040-5171
_version_ 1826212416768180224
author Miao, Vincent N.
author2 Shalek, Alex K.
author_facet Shalek, Alex K.
Miao, Vincent N.
author_sort Miao, Vincent N.
collection MIT
description Single-cell genomics have revolutionized the granularity with which we can dissect cellular phenotypes in both health and disease. Global atlases of homeostatic tissues have revealed rare cell populations critical to organ function and provide comprehensive genomic reference maps for the scientific community, and profiling of non-homeostatic tissues—across oncology, inflammation, autoimmunity, infectious disease and beyond—have revealed insights into the drivers of disease pathogenesis and potential avenues for prophylactic or therapeutic intervention. Over the past three years, we have studied SARS-CoV-2 infection through the lens of single-cell genomics, querying pre-existing single-cell datasets, developing in vitro models of disease, validating animal models of infection, and profiling human samples with our clinical collaborators, all the while adding to the vast trove of COVID-19 knowledge generated amidst a global pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, we identify putative targets of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human and non-human primate tissues and discover that the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor ACE2/Ace2 is an interferon-stimulated gene in human but not murine nasal epithelia. We then profile nasopharyngeal swabs taken from individuals upon hospital admission, stratifying epithelial responses to infection based on ensuing peak disease severity. We identify a muted anti-viral response to infection within the nasal epithelia as a correlate of severe but not mild or moderate disease progression. Finally, we turn to non-human models of SARS-CoV-2 infection to profile the lower respiratory response to viral perturbation across multiple acute time points, pinpointing cellular populations and attributes that are associated with enhanced protection in the lower respiratory tract. Together, our work highlights the use of single-cell genomics in uncovering tissue-based host-pathogen interactions and provides a framework for rapidly and systematically assessing the immune response to emerging pathogenic threats.
first_indexed 2024-09-23T15:21:19Z
format Thesis
id mit-1721.1/152793
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
last_indexed 2024-09-23T15:21:19Z
publishDate 2023
publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1527932023-11-03T03:10:47Z Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Miao, Vincent N. Shalek, Alex K. Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology Single-cell genomics have revolutionized the granularity with which we can dissect cellular phenotypes in both health and disease. Global atlases of homeostatic tissues have revealed rare cell populations critical to organ function and provide comprehensive genomic reference maps for the scientific community, and profiling of non-homeostatic tissues—across oncology, inflammation, autoimmunity, infectious disease and beyond—have revealed insights into the drivers of disease pathogenesis and potential avenues for prophylactic or therapeutic intervention. Over the past three years, we have studied SARS-CoV-2 infection through the lens of single-cell genomics, querying pre-existing single-cell datasets, developing in vitro models of disease, validating animal models of infection, and profiling human samples with our clinical collaborators, all the while adding to the vast trove of COVID-19 knowledge generated amidst a global pandemic. In the early days of the pandemic, we identify putative targets of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human and non-human primate tissues and discover that the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor ACE2/Ace2 is an interferon-stimulated gene in human but not murine nasal epithelia. We then profile nasopharyngeal swabs taken from individuals upon hospital admission, stratifying epithelial responses to infection based on ensuing peak disease severity. We identify a muted anti-viral response to infection within the nasal epithelia as a correlate of severe but not mild or moderate disease progression. Finally, we turn to non-human models of SARS-CoV-2 infection to profile the lower respiratory response to viral perturbation across multiple acute time points, pinpointing cellular populations and attributes that are associated with enhanced protection in the lower respiratory tract. Together, our work highlights the use of single-cell genomics in uncovering tissue-based host-pathogen interactions and provides a framework for rapidly and systematically assessing the immune response to emerging pathogenic threats. Ph.D. 2023-11-02T20:16:39Z 2023-11-02T20:16:39Z 2023-09 2023-09-07T20:20:05.131Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152793 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4040-5171 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Miao, Vincent N.
Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_full Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_fullStr Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_full_unstemmed Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_short Profiling Host Respiratory Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
title_sort profiling host respiratory responses to sars cov 2 infection
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152793
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4040-5171
work_keys_str_mv AT miaovincentn profilinghostrespiratoryresponsestosarscov2infection