# Innate immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in the lung and blood of patients with severe COVID-19

> **NIH NIH R01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $359,677

## Abstract

SUMMARY
COVID-19 disease is an ongoing global pandemic caused by a new beta-coronavirus SARS-CoV-
2. A major obstacle to battling SARS-CoV-2 is a better understanding of the human innate immune
responses that can lead to an uncontrolled hyper-inflammation in the lung and, ultimately, to an
acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in some patients but not others. Due to the rapid
emergence of this pandemic, very limited knowledge is available on the lung-specific innate
immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 that could lead to ARDS (and in some cases death) or instead
elicit a protective antiviral response (e.g., type-I interferons, interferon-stimulated genes).
The role of the human innate immune system, particularly the myeloid cells, in initiating a “cytokine
storm” and generalized hyper-inflammation has been reported, but specifically how lung-resident
macrophages vs. infiltrating monocytes differentially respond to SARS-CoV-2 and how each
myeloid subset contribute to either protective antiviral responses or uncontrolled hyper-
inflammation and ARDS remain unknown. Hence, an in-depth study of the myeloid compartment
in the lung and blood of severe COVID-19 patients in ICU is critical to better understand the
initiation and persistence of ARDS and, most importantly, to the development of more efficient
and targeted therapy.
Our project’s primary objective is to resolve, at a single-cell level, the specific myeloid subsets,
including lung-resident alveolar and interstitial macrophages, dendritic cells, as well as infiltrating
blood monocytes, that are responsible for protective antiviral responses (e.g., type-I interferons,
interferon-stimulated genes) and/or aberrant hyper-inflammatory responses that lead to ARDS
(e.g., “cytokine storm”, neutrophil recruitment, etc.). Through these studies, we will develop novel
insights into the molecular programming and heterogeneity of the human innate immune
responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and identify potential target genes to inform effective
treatment strategies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10212766
- **Project number:** 3R01AI123126-05S1
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Eliver Ghosn
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $359,677
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-08-24 → 2022-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10212766

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10212766, Innate immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in the lung and blood of patients with severe COVID-19 (3R01AI123126-05S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-31 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10212766. Licensed CC0.

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