Fig. 2: Distinct temporal patterns of change in the lipidome of EVs in COVID-19.
Hierarchical clustering was performed to aggregate lipids that exhibited similar patterns of change along the progressive course of COVID-19. n = 16, 25, 19 and 18 independent patient samples for S1, S2, S3 and S4 stages, respectively. Clustering patterns were visually examined and six clusters ((1)–(6)) of EV membrane lipids were expanded for further discussion. Left, for the global heat map, log2-transformed fold changes were plotted. Middle, for the line plots, z scores of mean of lipid levels expressed in MFM were plotted individually for lipids within each of the six clusters. Right, zoomed-in images of the six lipid clusters boxed in the global heat map. Statistical comparisons across temporal stages of COVID-19 were conducted using two-sided Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum tests and two-sided Dunn’s tests were used for pairwise comparisons. Only fold changes with P < 0.05 for each pairwise comparison are illustrated (that is, coloured blue or red); red indicates increases and blue indicates decreases in the respective phases analysed (for example, phase 2 relative to phase 1 (S2/S1)). All fold changes with P > 0.05 were set to 1 (shown in white). Gb3, globotriaosylceramide; PS, phosphatidylserine; SL, sulfatide; BMP, bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate; Cer, ceramide; LacCer, lactosylceramide.
