GSE212411
An inflammatory memory of COVID-19 in airway basal stem cells impairs mucociliary differentiation (RNA-Seq)
Airway basal stem cells (BSCs) in chronic lung diseases accumulate memories to promote disease-specific pathogenesis. Whether acute lung infection also endows BSCs with an inflammatory memory to impair epithelial regeneration is unknown. Here, we derived multiple BSC lines from patients with and without COVID-19 (CoV19) using tracheal aspirate (TA) as a viable source of bronchial BSCs. While tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, BSC lines from CoV19 patients bore a proinflammatory gene signature, exhibited early cell cycle exist, and displayed goblet cell hypoplasia following differentiation in air-liquid interface (ALI). These phenotypes reproduced, at least partially, changes in BSCs in patients with CoV19 assessed by bioinformatic analysis of preexisting single cell transcriptomes of BSCs and by staining of lung sections for select markers. Such a memory in BSCs previously exposed to CoV19 was mediated by increases in chromosomal accessibility at key inflammatory gene loci associated with gene dysregulation and sustained STAT3 activation. Blockade of STAT3 hyperactivation in CoV19-exposed BSCs restored mucociliary differentiation in ALI. Taken together, BSCs acquire an epigenetic memory of CoV19 to impair epithelial regeneration. BSC derivation from TA provides a versatile approach to model airway epithelium in health and lung diseases. Overall design: Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for basal stem cells from CDH patients and term and preterm controls.