Advantages
- High accuracy as it is a marker for each cell type.
- It is a unique analysis method (pipeline) and can be applied to other diseases.
Background and Technology
Prevention and treatment systems for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection (COVID-19) are being developed through the use of RNA vaccines and therapeutic drugs. On the other hand, the symptoms of COVID-19 are extremely diverse, ranging from asymptomatic to severe symptoms such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, and the mechanisms behind the aggravation and sequelae have not been elucidated, and it still poses a heavy burden on patients and medical institutions. It is difficult to predict the severity of COVID-19 at the onset of the disease, and there is a need to develop biomarkers for the severity of COVID-19.
We focused on host immunity and conducted research to identify genes that contribute to the severity of COVID-19 in each cell type. Specifically, single-cell RNA sequencing was performed on samples collected from 73 Japanese COVID-19 patients and 75 healthy Japanese subjects. This data is the world’s largest single-cell COVID-19 data and has a large number of cells per sample (approximately 6,000 cells), making it possible to analyze rare cell types. Applying a unique analysis pipeline, we performed a comprehensive analysis of gene expression changes in each cell type by linking the patients with age, gender, sample collection time, and immunosuppressive treatment information. As a result, we identified genes that significantly contribute to the severity of COVID-19 for each cell type.
The analysis pipeline used in this study is likely to be applicable to the analysis of markers for other diseases and therapeutic target molecules.
Reference
- Edahiro et al., Nat Genet. 2023 May;55(5):753-767. doi: 10.1038/s41588-023-01375-1.
- Patent pending
Principal Investigator
Yukinori OKADA (Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine)
Current Stage and Next Step
- Using a unique analysis pipeline using single-cell RNA sequencing, we analyzed samples from Japanese COVID-19 patients and healthy individuals, and identified gene clusters that are candidate markers for the severity of COVID-19.
- We are looking for companies working on the practical development of diagnostic technology using COVID-19 severity markers.
- We are also looking for companies interested in joint research on the analysis of markers and therapeutic target molecules for various diseases using our laboratory’s analysis pipeline technology.
Project No. BK-04534