Dynamics of Whole Transcriptome Analysis (WTA) and Surface markers expression (AbSeq) in Immune Cells of COVID-19 Patients and Recovered captured through Single Cell Genomics.

Introduction: Single-cell multi-omics studies, such as multidimensional transcriptomics (whole transcriptomic analysis, WTA), and surface marker analysis (antibody sequencing, AbSeq), have turned out to be valuable techniques that offer inaccessible possibilities for single-cell profiling of mRNA, lncRNA, and proteins.

Methods: We used this technique to understand the dynamics of mRNA and protein-level differences in healthy, COVID-19-infected and recovered individuals using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Our results demonstrate that compared to mRNA expression, protein abundance is a better indicator of the disease state.

Results: We demonstrate that compared to mRNA expression, protein abundance is a better indicator of the disease state. We observed high levels of cell identity and regulatory markers, , , , , , , and in healthy individuals, whereas markers related to cell activation, , , , , , and elevated in the SARS-CoV-2 infected patients at both WTA and AbSeq levels. Curiously, in recovered individuals, there was a high expression of cytokine and chemokine receptors (, and ). We also observed variations in the expression of markers within cell populations under different states.

Discussion: Furthermore, our study emphasizes the significance of employing an oligo-based method (AbSeq) that can help in diagnosis, prognosis, and protection from disease/s by identifying cell surface markers that are unique to different cell types or states. It also allows simultaneous study of a vast array of markers, surpassing the constraints of techniques like FACS to query the vast repertoire of proteins.