Pita-Juarez Y, Karagkouni D, Kalavros N, Melms JC, Niezen S, Delorey TM, Essene AL, Brook OR, Pant D, Skelton-Badlani D, Naderi P, Huang P, Pan L, Hether T, Andrews TS, Ziegler CGK, Reeves J, Myloserdnyy A, Chen R, Nam A, Phelan S, Liang Y, Gregory M, He S, Patrick M, Rane T, Wardhani A, Amin AD, Biermann J, Hibshoosh H, Veregge M, Kramer Z, Jacobs C, Yalcin Y, Phillips D, Slyper M, Subramanian A, Ashenberg O, Bloom-Ackermann Z, Tran VM, Gomez J, Sturm A, Zhang S, Fleming SJ, Warren S, Beechem J, Hung D, Babadi M, Padera RF, MacParland SA, Bader GD, Imad N, Solomon IH, Miller E, Riedel S, Porter CBM, Villani AC, Tsai LTY, Hide W, Szabo G, Hecht J, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Shalek AK, Izar B, Regev A, Popov YV, Jiang ZG, Vlachos IS. A single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomic atlas of the COVID-19 liver reveals topological, functional, and regenerative organ disruption in patients.
Genome Biol 2025;
26:56. [PMID:
40087773 PMCID:
PMC11907808 DOI:
10.1186/s13059-025-03499-5]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2025] [Indexed: 03/17/2025] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The molecular underpinnings of organ dysfunction in severe COVID-19 and its potential long-term sequelae are under intense investigation. To shed light on these in the context of liver function, we perform single-nucleus RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomic profiling of livers from 17 COVID-19 decedents.
RESULTS
We identify hepatocytes positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA with an expression phenotype resembling infected lung epithelial cells, and a central role in a pro-fibrotic TGFβ signaling cell-cell communications network. Integrated analysis and comparisons with healthy controls reveal extensive changes in the cellular composition and expression states in COVID-19 liver, providing the underpinning of hepatocellular injury, ductular reaction, pathologic vascular expansion, and fibrogenesis characteristic of COVID-19 cholangiopathy. We also observe Kupffer cell proliferation and erythrocyte progenitors for the first time in a human liver single-cell atlas. Despite the absence of a clinical acute liver injury phenotype, endothelial cell composition is dramatically impacted in COVID-19, concomitantly with extensive alterations and profibrogenic activation of reactive cholangiocytes and mesenchymal cells.
CONCLUSIONS
Our atlas provides novel insights into liver physiology and pathology in COVID-19 and forms a foundational resource for its investigation and understanding.
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