UCSF COVID-19: Extended Immunophenotyping Studies

We propose to rapidly apply key assays of patient samples derived from IMPACC studies tounderstand the critical features that characterize hospitalized patients with COVID-19, a pandemicdisease characterized by immune exacerbations of lung injury. These proposed studies are a naturaland focused extension of the work we are performing in the parent U19 award adapted to the urgentmedical need to better understand the pathogenesis of severe, life-threatening COVID-19 disease.We propose 5 site-specific studies that are highly complementary to assays being performed by theIMPACC national immunophenotyping cores here at UCSF and elsewhere. These include studiesthat focus on both airway cells and blood immune cells (including neutrophils) and utilize a set ofinnovative methods that allow for a detailed understanding of the nature and activation states ofspecific cell types within the airway and the blood. These studies promise to yield new insightsrelevant for understanding COVID-19 immunopathogenesis and predicting disease outcome andresponse to therapy, and could lead to novel therapeutic targets for this devastating disease.