Single-cell analyses and host genetics highlight the role of innate immune cells in COVID-19 severity

Ryuya Edahiro; Yuya Shirai; Yusuke Takeshima; Shuhei Sakakibara; Yuta Yamaguchi; Teruaki Murakami; Takayoshi Morita; Yasuhiro Kato; Yu-Chen Liu; Daisuke Motooka; Yoko Naito; Ayako Takuwa; Fuminori Sugihara; Kentaro Tanaka; James B Wing; Kyuto Sonehara; Yoshihiko Tomofuji; Japan COVID-19 Task Force; Ho Namkoong; Hiromu Tanaka; Ho Lee; Koichi Fukunaga; Haruhiko Hirata; Yoshito Takeda; Daisuke Okuzaki; Atsushi Kumanogoh; Yukinori Okada

doi:10.1038/s41588-023-01375-1

Single-cell analyses and host genetics highlight the role of innate immune cells in COVID-19 severity

Nat Genet. 2023 May;55(5):753-767. doi: 10.1038/s41588-023-01375-1. Epub 2023 Apr 24.

Authors

Ryuya Edahiro^#^{1

2}, Yuya Shirai^#^{1

2

3}, Yusuke Takeshima⁴, Shuhei Sakakibara⁵, Yuta Yamaguchi^{2

6}, Teruaki Murakami^{2

6}, Takayoshi Morita^{2

6}, Yasuhiro Kato^{2

6}, Yu-Chen Liu⁷, Daisuke Motooka^{7

8

9}, Yoko Naito⁸, Ayako Takuwa⁷, Fuminori Sugihara¹⁰, Kentaro Tanaka⁸, James B Wing^{11

12}, Kyuto Sonehara^{1

9

13

14}, Yoshihiko Tomofuji^{1

9

13}; Japan COVID-19 Task Force; Ho Namkoong¹⁵, Hiromu Tanaka¹⁶, Ho Lee¹⁶, Koichi Fukunaga¹⁶, Haruhiko Hirata², Yoshito Takeda², Daisuke Okuzaki^{7

8

9

12

17}, Atsushi Kumanogoh^{18

19

20

21

22}, Yukinori Okada^{23

24

25

26

27

28}

Collaborators

Japan COVID-19 Task Force:
Qingbo S Wang, Takanori Hasegawa, Ryunosuke Saiki, Takayoshi Hyugaji, Eigo Shimizu, Kotoe Katayama, Masahiro Kanai, Tatsuhiko Naito, Noah Sasa, Kenichi Yamamoto, Kazuhisa Takahashi, Norihiro Harada, Toshio Naito, Makoto Hiki, Yasushi Matsushita, Haruhi Takagi, Masako Ichikawa, Ai Nakamura, Sonoko Harada, Yuuki Sandhu, Hiroki Kabata, Katsunori Masaki, Hirofumi Kamata, Shinnosuke Ikemura, Shotaro Chubachi, Satoshi Okamori, Hideki Terai, Atsuho Morita, Takanori Asakura, Junichi Sasaki, Hiroshi Morisaki, Yoshifumi Uwamino, Kosaku Nanki, Sho Uchida, Shunsuke Uno, Tomoyasu Nishimura, Takashi Ishiguro, Taisuke Isono, Shun Shibata, Yuma Matsui, Chiaki Hosoda, Kenji Takano, Takashi Nishida, Yoichi Kobayashi, Yotaro Takaku, Noboru Takayanagi, Soichiro Ueda, Ai Tada, Masayoshi Miyawaki, Masaomi Yamamoto, Eriko Yoshida, Reina Hayashi, Tomoki Nagasaka, Sawako Arai, Yutaro Kaneko, Kana Sasaki, Etsuko Tagaya, Masatoshi Kawana, Ken Arimura, Kunihiko Takahashi, Tatsuhiko Anzai, Satoshi Ito, Akifumi Endo, Yuji Uchimura, Yasunari Miyazaki, Takayuki Honda, Tomoya Tateishi, Shuji Tohda, Naoya Ichimura, Kazunari Sonobe, Chihiro Tani Sassa, Jun Nakajima, Yasushi Nakano, Yukiko Nakajima, Ryusuke Anan, Ryosuke Arai, Yuko Kurihara, Yuko Harada, Kazumi Nishio, Tetsuya Ueda, Masanori Azuma, Ryuichi Saito, Toshikatsu Sado, Yoshimune Miyazaki, Ryuichi Sato, Yuki Haruta, Tadao Nagasaki, Yoshinori Yasui, Yoshinori Hasegawa, Yoshikazu Mutoh, Tomoki Kimura, Tomonori Sato, Reoto Takei, Satoshi Hagimoto, Yoichiro Noguchi, Yasuhiko Yamano, Hajime Sasano, Sho Ota, Yasushi Nakamori, Kazuhisa Yoshiya, Fukuki Saito, Tomoyuki Yoshihara, Daiki Wada, Hiromu Iwamura, Syuji Kanayama, Shuhei Maruyama, Takashi Yoshiyama, Ken Ohta, Hiroyuki Kokuto, Hideo Ogata, Yoshiaki Tanaka, Kenichi Arakawa, Masafumi Shimoda, Takeshi Osawa, Hiroki Tateno, Isano Hase, Shuichi Yoshida, Shoji Suzuki, Miki Kawada, Hirohisa Horinouchi, Fumitake Saito, Keiko Mitamura, Masao Hagihara, Junichi Ochi, Tomoyuki Uchida, Rie Baba, Daisuke Arai, Takayuki Ogura, Hidenori Takahashi, Shigehiro Hagiwara, Genta Nagao, Shunichiro Konishi, Ichiro Nakachi, Koji Murakami, Mitsuhiro Yamada, Hisatoshi Sugiura, Hirohito Sano, Shuichiro Matsumoto, Nozomu Kimura, Yoshinao Ono, Hiroaki Baba, Yusuke Suzuki, Sohei Nakayama, Keita Masuzawa, Shinichi Namba, Takayuki Shiroyama, Yoshimi Noda, Takayuki Niitsu, Yuichi Adachi, Takatoshi Enomoto, Saori Amiya, Reina Hara, Tomoki Kuge, Kinnosuke Matsumoto, Yuji Yamamoto, Makoto Yamamoto, Midori Yoneda, Kazunori Tomono, Kazuto Kato, Hidefumi Koh, Tadashi Manabe, Yohei Funatsu, Fumimaro Ito, Takahiro Fukui, Keisuke Shinozuka, Sumiko Kohashi, Masatoshi Miyazaki, Tomohisa Shoko, Mitsuaki Kojima, Tomohiro Adachi, Motonao Ishikawa, Kenichiro Takahashi, Takashi Inoue, Toshiyuki Hirano, Keigo Kobayashi, Hatsuyo Takaoka, Kazuyoshi Watanabe, Naoki Miyazawa, Yasuhiro Kimura, Reiko Sado, Hideyasu Sugimoto, Akane Kamiya, Naota Kuwahara, Akiko Fujiwara, Tomohiro Matsunaga, Yoko Sato, Takenori Okada, Yoshihiro Hirai, Hidetoshi Kawashima, Atsuya Narita, Kazuki Niwa, Yoshiyuki Sekikawa, Koichi Nishi, Masaru Nishitsuji, Mayuko Tani, Junya Suzuki, Hiroki Nakatsumi, Takashi Ogura, Hideya Kitamura, Eri Hagiwara, Kota Murohashi, Hiroko Okabayashi, Takao Mochimaru, Shigenari Nukaga, Ryosuke Satomi, Yoshitaka Oyamada, Nobuaki Mori, Tomoya Baba, Yasutaka Fukui, Mitsuru Odate, Shuko Mashimo, Yasushi Makino, Kazuma Yagi, Mizuha Hashiguchi, Junko Kagyo, Tetsuya Shiomi, Satoshi Fuke, Hiroshi Saito, Tomoya Tsuchida, Shigeki Fujitani, Mumon Takita, Daiki Morikawa, Toru Yoshida, Takehiro Izumo, Minoru Inomata, Naoyuki Kuse, Nobuyasu Awano, Mari Tone, Akihiro Ito, Yoshihiko Nakamura, Kota Hoshino, Junichi Maruyama, Hiroyasu Ishikura, Tohru Takata, Toshio Odani, Masaru Amishima, Takeshi Hattori, Yasuo Shichinohe, Takashi Kagaya, Toshiyuki Kita, Kazuhide Ohta, Satoru Sakagami, Kiyoshi Koshida, Kentaro Hayashi, Tetsuo Shimizu, Yutaka Kozu, Hisato Hiranuma, Yasuhiro Gon, Namiki Izumi, Kaoru Nagata, Ken Ueda, Reiko Taki, Satoko Hanada, Kodai Kawamura, Kazuya Ichikado, Kenta Nishiyama, Hiroyuki Muranaka, Kazunori Nakamura, Naozumi Hashimoto, Keiko Wakahara, Sakamoto Koji, Norihito Omote, Akira Ando, Nobuhiro Kodama, Yasunari Kaneyama, Shunsuke Maeda, Takashige Kuraki, Takemasa Matsumoto, Koutaro Yokote, Taka-Aki Nakada, Ryuzo Abe, Taku Oshima, Tadanaga Shimada, Masahiro Harada, Takeshi Takahashi, Hiroshi Ono, Toshihiro Sakurai, Takayuki Shibusawa, Yoshifumi Kimizuka, Akihiko Kawana, Tomoya Sano, Chie Watanabe, Ryohei Suematsu, Hisako Sageshima, Ayumi Yoshifuji, Kazuto Ito, Saeko Takahashi, Kota Ishioka, Morio Nakamura, Makoto Masuda, Aya Wakabayashi, Hiroki Watanabe, Suguru Ueda, Masanori Nishikawa, Yusuke Chihara, Mayumi Takeuchi, Keisuke Onoi, Jun Shinozuka, Atsushi Sueyoshi, Yoji Nagasaki, Masaki Okamoto, Sayoko Ishihara, Masatoshi Shimo, Yoshihisa Tokunaga, Yu Kusaka, Takehiko Ohba, Susumu Isogai, Aki Ogawa, Takuya Inoue, Satoru Fukuyama, Yoshihiro Eriguchi, Akiko Yonekawa, Keiko Kan-O, Koichiro Matsumoto, Kensuke Kanaoka, Shoichi Ihara, Kiyoshi Komuta, Yoshiaki Inoue, Shigeru Chiba, Kunihiro Yamagata, Yuji Hiramatsu, Hirayasu Kai, Koichiro Asano, Tsuyoshi Oguma, Yoko Ito, Satoru Hashimoto, Masaki Yamasaki, Yu Kasamatsu, Yuko Komase, Naoya Hida, Takahiro Tsuburai, Baku Oyama, Minoru Takada, Hidenori Kanda, Yuichiro Kitagawa, Tetsuya Fukuta, Takahito Miyake, Shozo Yoshida, Shinji Ogura, Shinji Abe, Yuta Kono, Yuki Togashi, Hiroyuki Takoi, Ryota Kikuchi, Shinichi Ogawa, Tomouki Ogata, Shoichiro Ishihara, Arihiko Kanehiro, Shinji Ozaki, Yasuko Fuchimoto, Sae Wada, Nobukazu Fujimoto, Kei Nishiyama, Mariko Terashima, Satoru Beppu, Kosuke Yoshida, Osamu Narumoto, Hideaki Nagai, Nobuharu Ooshima, Mitsuru Motegi, Akira Umeda, Kazuya Miyagawa, Hisato Shimada, Mayu Endo, Yoshiyuki Ohira, Masafumi Watanabe, Sumito Inoue, Akira Igarashi, Masamichi Sato, Hironori Sagara, Akihiko Tanaka, Shin Ohta, Tomoyuki Kimura, Yoko Shibata, Yoshinori Tanino, Takefumi Nikaido, Hiroyuki Minemura, Yuki Sato, Yuichiro Yamada, Takuya Hashino, Masato Shinoki, Hajime Iwagoe, Hiroshi Takahashi, Kazuhiko Fujii, Hiroto Kishi, Masayuki Kanai, Tomonori Imamura, Tatsuya Yamashita, Masakiyo Yatomi, Toshitaka Maeno, Shinichi Hayashi, Mai Takahashi, Mizuki Kuramochi, Isamu Kamimaki, Yoshiteru Tominaga, Tomoo Ishii, Mitsuyoshi Utsugi, Akihiro Ono, Toru Tanaka, Takeru Kashiwada, Kazue Fujita, Yoshinobu Saito, Masahiro Seike, Hiroko Watanabe, Hiroto Matsuse, Norio Kodaka, Chihiro Nakano, Takeshi Oshio, Takatomo Hirouchi, Shohei Makino, Moritoki Egi, Yosuke Omae, Yasuhito Nannya, Takafumi Ueno, Tomomi Takano, Kazuhiko Katayama, Masumi Ai, Toshiro Sato, Naoki Hasegawa, Katsushi Tokunaga, Makoto Ishii, Ryuji Koike, Yuko Kitagawa, Akinori Kimura, Seiya Imoto, Satoru Miyano, Seishi Ogawa, Takanori Kanai

Affiliations

¹ Department of Statistical Genetics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan.
² Department of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan.
³ Laboratory of Statistical Immunology, Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
⁴ Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
⁵ Laboratory of Immune Regulation, Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
⁶ Department of Immunopathology, Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
⁷ Laboratory of Human Immunology (Single Cell Genomics), WPI Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
⁸ Genome Information Research Center, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
⁹ Integrated Frontier Research for Medical Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
¹⁰ Core Instrumentation Facility, Immunology Frontier Research Center and Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
¹¹ Laboratory of Human Immunology (Single Cell Immunology), Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
¹² Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER), Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
¹³ Laboratory for Systems Genetics, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan.
¹⁴ Department of Genome Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁵ Department of Infectious Diseases, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁶ Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁷ Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development - Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (AMED-CREST), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
¹⁸ Department of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Immunology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan. kumanogo@imed3.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
¹⁹ Department of Immunopathology, Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University, Suita, Japan. kumanogo@imed3.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²⁰ Integrated Frontier Research for Medical Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives, Osaka University, Suita, Japan. kumanogo@imed3.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²¹ Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER), Osaka University, Suita, Japan. kumanogo@imed3.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²² Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development - Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (AMED-CREST), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. kumanogo@imed3.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²³ Department of Statistical Genetics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan. yokada@sg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²⁴ Laboratory of Statistical Immunology, Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University, Suita, Japan. yokada@sg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²⁵ Integrated Frontier Research for Medical Science Division, Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives, Osaka University, Suita, Japan. yokada@sg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²⁶ Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER), Osaka University, Suita, Japan. yokada@sg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²⁷ Laboratory for Systems Genetics, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan. yokada@sg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
²⁸ Department of Genome Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. yokada@sg.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Mechanisms underpinning the dysfunctional immune response in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection are elusive. We analyzed single-cell transcriptomes and T and B cell receptors (BCR) of >895,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 73 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and 75 healthy controls of Japanese ancestry with host genetic data. COVID-19 patients showed a low fraction of nonclassical monocytes (ncMono). We report downregulated cell transitions from classical monocytes to ncMono in COVID-19 with reduced CXCL10 expression in ncMono in severe disease. Cell-cell communication analysis inferred decreased cellular interactions involving ncMono in severe COVID-19. Clonal expansions of BCR were evident in the plasmablasts of patients. Putative disease genes identified by COVID-19 genome-wide association study showed cell type-specific expressions in monocytes and dendritic cells. A COVID-19-associated risk variant at the IFNAR2 locus (rs13050728) had context-specific and monocyte-specific expression quantitative trait loci effects. Our study highlights biological and host genetic involvement of innate immune cells in COVID-19 severity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / genetics
Genome-Wide Association Study
Humans
Immunity, Innate / genetics
Leukocytes, Mononuclear*
Single-Cell Analysis