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Hoffmann M, Willruth LL, Dietrich A, Lee HK, Knabl L, Trummer N, Baumbach J, Furth PA, Hennighausen L, List M. Blood transcriptomics analysis offers insights into variant-specific immune response to SARS-CoV-2. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.03.564190. [PMID: 38076885 PMCID: PMC10705570 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.03.564190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of blood is typically used for gene expression analysis in biomedical research but is still rarely used in clinical practice. In this study, we argue that RNA-seq should be considered a routine diagnostic tool, as it offers not only insights into aberrant gene expression and splicing but also delivers additional readouts on immune cell type composition as well as B-cell and T-cell receptor (BCR/TCR) repertoires. We demonstrate that RNA-seq offers vital insights into a patient's immune status via integrative analysis of RNA-seq data from patients infected with various SARS-CoV-2 variants (in total 240 samples with up to 200 million reads sequencing depth). We compare the results of computational cell-type deconvolution methods (e.g., MCP-counter, xCell, EPIC, quanTIseq) to complete blood count data, the current gold standard in clinical practice. We observe varying levels of lymphocyte depletion and significant differences in neutrophil levels between SARS-CoV-2 variants. Additionally, we identify B and T cell receptor (BCR/TCR) sequences using the tools MiXCR and TRUST4 to show that - combined with sequence alignments and pBLAST - they could be used to classify a patient's disease. Finally, we investigated the sequencing depth required for such analyses and concluded that 10 million reads per sample is sufficient. In conclusion, our study reveals that computational cell-type deconvolution and BCR/TCR methods using bulk RNA-seq analyses can supplement missing CBC data and offer insights into immune responses, disease severity, and pathogen-specific immunity, all achievable with a sequencing depth of 10 million reads per sample.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Hoffmann
- Big Data in BioMedicine Group, Chair of Experimental Bioinformatics, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Institute for Advanced Study (Lichtenbergstrasse 2 a, D-85748 Garching, Germany), Technical University of Munich, Germany
- National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America
| | - Lina-Liv Willruth
- Big Data in BioMedicine Group, Chair of Experimental Bioinformatics, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Alexander Dietrich
- Big Data in BioMedicine Group, Chair of Experimental Bioinformatics, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Hye Kyung Lee
- National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America
| | | | - Nico Trummer
- Big Data in BioMedicine Group, Chair of Experimental Bioinformatics, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Jan Baumbach
- Chair of Computational Systems Biology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Computational BioMedicine Lab, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Priscilla A. Furth
- Institute for Advanced Study (Lichtenbergstrasse 2 a, D-85748 Garching, Germany), Technical University of Munich, Germany
- National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America
- Departments of Oncology & Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Lothar Hennighausen
- Institute for Advanced Study (Lichtenbergstrasse 2 a, D-85748 Garching, Germany), Technical University of Munich, Germany
- National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States of America
| | - Markus List
- Big Data in BioMedicine Group, Chair of Experimental Bioinformatics, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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