Dysregulated hematopoiesis in bone marrow marks severe COVID-19.

Abstract

Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is often indicated by lymphopenia and increased myelopoiesis; however, the underlying mechanism is still unclear, especially the alteration of hematopoiesis. It is important to explore to what extent and how hematopoietic stem cells contribute to the impairment of peripheral lymphoid and myeloid compartments in COVID-19 patients. In this study, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to assess bone marrow mononuclear cells from COVID-19 patients with peripheral blood mononuclear cells as control. The results showed that the hematopoietic stem cells in these patients were mainly in the G1 phase and prone to apoptosis, with immune activation and anti-viral responses. Importantly, a significant accumulation of immature myeloid progenitors and a dramatic reduction of lymphoid progenitors in severe cases were identified, along with the up-regulation of transcription factors (such as SPI1, LMO4, ETS2, FLI1, and GATA2) that are important for the hematopoietic stem cell or multipotent progenitor to differentiate into downstream progenitors. Our results indicate a dysregulated hematopoiesis in patients with severe COVID-19.

• Authors: Xin Wang, Yanling Wen, Xiaowei Xie, Yang Liu, Xiaohua Tan, Qingxian Cai, Yawen Zhang, Lin Cheng, Gang Xu, Shengyuan Zhang, Haiyan Wang, Lanlan Wei, Xian Tang, Furong Qi, Juanjuan Zhao, Jing Yuan, Lei Liu, Ping Zhu, Florent Ginhoux, Shuye Zhang, Tao Cheng, Zheng Zhang
• Journal: Cell discovery (Cell Discov) Vol. 7 Issue 1 Pg. 60 (Aug 04 2021) ISSN: 2056-5968 [Print] England
• PMID: 34349096 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2021. The Author(s).