Hongxing Lei1, Chi Wang2, Yunlai Wang3, Chengbin Wang4. 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China; Cunji Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Center of Alzheimer's Disease, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing, China. Electronic address: leihx@big.ac.cn. 2. Department of Clinical Laboratory of Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital & Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China. 3. CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, China. 4. Department of Clinical Laboratory of Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital & Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wangcb301@126.com.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Bacterial infection remains one of the greatest threats to human health. However, how human hosts respond to bacterial infection has not been thoroughly understood. Better understanding of this response will improve human health. METHODS: Here, we conducted an investigation on host response to bacterial infection using unperturbed clinical samples and single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq) technology. To evaluate immune alteration upon bacterial infection in scRNA-Seq data of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we developed a barcode analytical framework named PBMCode. RESULTS: Using this PBMCode framework, we revealed profound immune alteration in peripheral blood under bacterial infection, including the emergence of natural killer T (NKT) cell cluster, reduction of B cell population, and considerable changes in T cells and monocytes. In addition, we also observed a large quantity of low-density neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation on single cells provided unprecedented details in the alteration of both cell population and cell state under bacterial infection. These findings may be relevant to clinical decisions. The complexity of host response to bacterial infection revealed by scRNA-Seq deserves further attention in future studies.
OBJECTIVES:Bacterial infection remains one of the greatest threats to human health. However, how human hosts respond to bacterial infection has not been thoroughly understood. Better understanding of this response will improve human health. METHODS: Here, we conducted an investigation on host response to bacterial infection using unperturbed clinical samples and single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq) technology. To evaluate immune alteration upon bacterial infection in scRNA-Seq data of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we developed a barcode analytical framework named PBMCode. RESULTS: Using this PBMCode framework, we revealed profound immune alteration in peripheral blood under bacterial infection, including the emergence of natural killer T (NKT) cell cluster, reduction of B cell population, and considerable changes in T cells and monocytes. In addition, we also observed a large quantity of low-density neutrophils. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation on single cells provided unprecedented details in the alteration of both cell population and cell state under bacterial infection. These findings may be relevant to clinical decisions. The complexity of host response to bacterial infection revealed by scRNA-Seq deserves further attention in future studies.