Immune Cell Profiling of COVID-19 Patients in the Recovery Stage by Single-Cell Sequencing

Wen Wen; Wenru Su; Hao Tang; Wenqing Le; Xiaopeng Zhang; Yingfeng Zheng; XiuXing Liu; Lihui Xie; Jianmin Li; Jinguo Ye; Xiuliang Cui; Yushan Miao; Depeng Wang; Jiantao Dong; Chuan-Le Xiao; Wei Chen; Hongyang Wang

In conclusion, our study provides the first immune atlas of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and identifies adaptive immune dysregulation after discharge. The clonal expansion of both T and B cells indicates that the immune system has gradually recovered; however, the sustained hyper-inflammatory response for more than 7 days after discharge suggests the need for medical observation after patients are discharged from hospital. Longitudinal studies of recovered patients in a larger cohort might help to understand the consequences of the disease. The novel BCRs identified in our study may advance our understanding of B cell mechanisms and have potential clinical utility in COVID-19 immunotherapies.