Can Covid-19 outcome be revealed by single cell analysis?

Summary

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has killed over 100,000 people and will last for months or years. Pandemic control will rely on definitive therapies or vaccines built on an increased understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and its immune response. We will address this by deep analysis of patients with mild or severe COVID-19. The NBR Covid-19 cohort has recruited close to 200 COVID-19 patients with a range of severities. Preliminary immune phenotyping shows profound abnormalities in patients with severe disease, indicating the more detailed analysis possible using single-cell sequencing techniques will shed light on what pathways drive transition from the early viral clearance stage to the extreme immune-driven phase causing respiratory failure and mortality.