ArticlePLoS biology2020
In vivo antiviral host transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2 by viral load, sex, and age.
Article in PLoS biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 187 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
187 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 286 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring COVID-19 Pandemic Disparities with Transcriptomic Meta-analysis from the Perspective of Personalized Medicine.Journal of microbiology (Seoul, Korea) · 2024Pooled it
- Gene expression profiling of host lipid metabolism in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients: a systematic review and integrated bioinformatics analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Identifying novel host-based diagnostic biomarker panels for COVID-19: a whole-blood/nasopharyngeal transcriptome meta-analysis.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2022Pooled it
- Genome-scale metabolic modeling reveals SARS-CoV-2-induced metabolic changes and antiviral targets.Molecular systems biology · 2021Pooled it
- Prognostic value of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 viral load and antibodies in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.Clinical and translational science · 2023Trial
- Article
- Differential effects of SARS-CoV-2-targeted infection of ATII, club cells, and macrophages on lung immunopathology and antiviral responses.Mucosal immunology · 2026Article
- Article
- Senescent Factors Suppress Innate Antiviral Immunity in Aged Mice via Two Distinct Mechanisms.Aging cell · 2026Article
- The Role of Viral Load in COVID-19-Induced Encephalitis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Interrelational Proteomic Sequence Features Enhance Predictive Modeling: Application to COVID-19 Severity.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Exploration of shared gene signatures and molecular mechanisms between psoriasis and COVID-19: evidence from transcriptome data.Mammalian genome : official journal of the International Mammalian Genome Society · 2026Article
- Intracellular CaBiologia futura · 2025Review
- Transcriptomic analysis of differential expression between surviving and nonsurviving patients infected by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A flexible framework for minimal biomarker signature discovery from clinical omics studies without library size normalisation.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- KLRB1 expression in nasopharyngeal mucosa as a prognostic biomarker in COVID-19 patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Circular RNAs in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2: potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.Functional & integrative genomics · 2025Review
- Longitudinal host transcriptional responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults with extremely high viral load.PloS one · 2025Article
- Factors Influencing COVID-19 Viral Clearance: Implications for Vaccination and Antiviral Therapy.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- Decoding NAD+ Metabolism in COVID-19: Implications for Immune Modulation and Therapy.Vaccines · 2024Review
127 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
15 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Despite limited genomic diversity, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has shown a wide range of clinical manifestations in different patient populations. The mechanisms behind these host differences are still unclear. Here, we examined host response gene expression across infection status, viral load, age, and sex among shotgun RNA sequencing profiles of nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs from 430 individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 and 54 negative controls. SARS-CoV-2 induced a strong antiviral response with up-regulation of antiviral factors such as OAS1-3 and IFIT1-3 and T helper type 1 (Th1) chemokines CXCL9/10/11, as well as a reduction in transcription of ribosomal proteins. SARS-CoV-2 culture in human airway epithelial (HAE) cultures replicated the in vivo antiviral host response 7 days post infection, with no induction of interferon-stimulated genes after 3 days. Patient-matched longitudinal specimens (mean elapsed time = 6.3 days) demonstrated reduction in interferon-induced transcription, recovery of transcription of ribosomal proteins, and initiation of wound healing and humoral immune responses. Expression of interferon-responsive genes, including ACE2, increased as a function of viral load, while transcripts for B cell-specific proteins and neutrophil chemokines were elevated in patients with lower viral load. Older individuals had reduced expression of the Th1 chemokines CXCL9/10/11 and their cognate receptor CXCR3, as well as CD8A and granzyme B, suggesting deficiencies in trafficking and/or function of cytotoxic T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Relative to females, males had reduced B cell-specific and NK cell-specific transcripts and an increase in inhibitors of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling, possibly inappropriately throttling antiviral responses. Collectively, our data demonstrate that host responses to SARS-CoV-2 are dependent on viral load and infection time course, with observed differences due to age and sex that may contribute to disease severity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.