Biology subjects

Juttukonda, L. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Juttukonda, L. J..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Unique nasal cell states induced by common pediatric respiratory viruses

Respiratory viral infections in early childhood are major drivers of acute morbidity and long-term airway disease, yet how distinct viruses remodel the pediatric nasal mucosa at cellular resolution remains unresolved. Here, we generated a single-cell RNA sequencing atlas of 335,174 nasal epithelial and immune cells from 132 children under five years of age with SARS-CoV-2, rhinovirus, or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, alongside uninfected controls. Mapping viral transcripts to individual cells revealed virus-specific infected epithelial states: an NF-kB-responsive ciliated subset in SARS-CoV-2 and a previously undescribed KRT17+ squamous-like subset in RSV. We delineated divergent mucosal response programs, including a robust interferon (IFN) response in SARS-CoV-2, an IL-13-responsive secretory program in rhinovirus, and heightened inflammatory and cytotoxic immune activation in RSV. In RSV, specific immune subsets and elevated IFN-response signatures were associated with disease severity, whereas rhinovirus-induced wheeze was marked by expansion of a CST1+ goblet cell subset. Integration of asthma genome-wide association data with our atlas revealed a KRT13+ hillock-like squamous epithelial subset enriched for expression of childhood-onset asthma risk loci. Finally, we demonstrate that this resource enables high-resolution annotation of independent pediatric cohorts in Kolkata, India and rural Bangladesh. Together, this atlas establishes a comprehensive view of antiviral immunity in the pediatric nasal mucosa and defines virus-specific mucosal immune programs relevant to disease severity and asthma risk in early life.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2021

Decidual immune response following COVID-19 during pregnancy varies by timing of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection

While COVID-19 infection during pregnancy is common, fetal transmission is rare, suggesting that intrauterine mechanisms form an effective blockade against SARS-CoV-2. Key among these is the decidual immune environment of the placenta. We hypothesized that decidual leukocytes are altered by maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy and that this decidual immune resonse is shaped by the timing of infection during gestation. To address this hypothesis, we collected decidua basalis tissues at delivery from women with symptomatic COVID-19 during second (2nd Tri COVID, n=8) or third trimester (3rd Tri COVID, n=8) and SARS-CoV-2-negative controls (Control, n=8). Decidual natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages and T cells were evaluated using quantitative microscopy, and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine mRNA expression was evaluated using quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR). When compared with the Control group, decidual tissues from 3rd Tri COVID exhibited significantly increased macrophages, NK cells and T cells, whereas 2nd Tri COVID only had significantly increased T cells. In evaluating decidual cytokine expression, we noted that IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and TNF- were significantly correlated with macrophage cell abundance. However, in 2nd Tri COVID tissues, there was significant downregulation of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-. Taken together, these results suggest innate and adaptive immune responses are present at the maternal-fetal interface in maternal SARS-CoV-2 infections late in pregnancy, and that infections earlier in pregnancy show evidence of a resolving immune response. Further studies are warranted to characterize the full scope of intrauterine immune responses in pregnancies affected by maternal COVID-19.

immunology↗