Farahmandnejad Mitra, Mosaddeghi Pouria, Dorvash Mohammadreza, Sakhteman Amirhossein, Negahdaripour Manica, Faridi Pouya
Quality Control of Drug Products Department, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz 71348-14336, Iran.
Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz 71348-14336, Iran.
Biomedicines. 2024 Jan 29;12(2):315. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12020315.
Some studies have investigated the potential role of transposable elements (TEs) in COVID-19 pathogenesis and complications. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study to examine the possible association of TE expression in cell functions and its potential role in COVID-19 immune response at the single-cell level. In this study, we reanalyzed single-cell RNA seq data of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples obtained from six severe COVID-19 patients and three healthy donors to assess the probable correlation of TE expression with the immune responses induced by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in COVID-19 patients. Our findings indicate that the expansion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) may be a characteristic feature of COVID-19. Additionally, a significant increase in TE expression in MDSCs was observed. This upregulation of TEs in COVID-19 may be linked to the adaptability of these cells in response to their microenvironments. Furthermore, it appears that the identification of overexpressed TEs by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) in MDSCs may enhance the suppressive capacity of these cells. Thus, this study emphasizes the crucial role of TEs in the functionality of MDSCs during COVID-19.
一些研究已经探究了转座元件（TEs）在新冠病毒疾病发病机制及并发症中的潜在作用。然而，据我们所知，尚无研究在单细胞水平上考察TEs表达与细胞功能的可能关联及其在新冠病毒免疫反应中的潜在作用。在本研究中，我们重新分析了从6名重症新冠患者和3名健康供体获取的支气管肺泡灌洗（BAL）样本的单细胞RNA测序数据，以评估TEs表达与重症急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）在新冠患者中诱导的免疫反应之间的可能相关性。我们的研究结果表明，髓系来源的抑制性细胞（MDSCs）的扩增可能是新冠病毒疾病的一个特征。此外，观察到MDSCs中TEs表达显著增加。新冠病毒疾病中TEs的这种上调可能与其在应对微环境时的适应性有关。此外，髓系来源的抑制性细胞中模式识别受体（PRRs）对过表达TEs的识别似乎可能增强这些细胞的抑制能力。因此，本研究强调了TEs在新冠病毒疾病期间髓系来源的抑制性细胞功能中的关键作用。
