The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Utility of long read Nanopore sequencing as a tool for rapid insight into the host response in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 or influenza A virus at point-of-care

Utility of long read Nanopore sequencing as a tool for rapid insight into the host response in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 or influenza A virus at point-of-care
Utility of long read Nanopore sequencing as a tool for rapid insight into the host response in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 or influenza A virus at point-of-care
Long read sequencing with Nanopore provides a platform for rapid, accessible, and flexible sequencing of nucleic acids, which is advantageous when faced with an outbreak or biological threat, particularly in situations where there is a lack of and/or demands on specific infrastructure. Investigation of the blood transcriptome can provide a snapshot of the systemic responses within a patient with a view to categorise and/or predict disease progression and outcome. For patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, analysis of the blood transcriptome using Illumina short read sequencing showed that there was a delayed adaptive immune response at the transcript level in those that went on to have a fatal outcome, compared to survivors. The profile of transcript expression data could also be used to predict admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). The use of Nanopore sequencing as a tool for rapid insight into the host response was explored using samples taken at point-of-care from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 or influenza. This was compared to the same samples that had been previously sequenced using Illumina. Although an overall lower abundance of transcripts was identified using Nanopore sequencing in this study, when combined with bioinformatic analysis of expression pathways and functional analysis results, the findings were comparable. This work demonstrated that Nanopore sequencing is a feasible method for gaining rapid insight into the host response, which may contribute to effective patient care and help inform policy decisions in the face of a novel communicable disease, especially in a low-resource setting.
Research Square
Rickett, Natasha Y.
1a38b95d-a638-43d3-9503-a609a5663ea1
Hartley, Catherine
3a3e5d8a-8b83-4a49-85c0-e8531a98a4b4
Shawli, Ghada T.
016c9bc6-9e1d-42a8-80f2-5c9df31275fa
Shapanis, Andrew George
538c4538-afd2-401b-adaf-fc599e75d2ea
Gardner, Aaron Ions
64961a7a-ae25-4a6b-85ab-4da84bb063b5
Harding, Nicholas
a7f1f08c-fe3b-4235-bfbb-07b163021703
Legebeke, Jelmer
f6062b8c-22ac-465c-9528-3bac881137d0
Lord, Jenny
e1909780-36cd-4705-b21e-4580038d4ec6
Poole, Stephen
440d7904-ab72-469c-892b-c910cd1cb19b
Brendish, Nathan J.
d07b588f-4919-456d-8604-04efde7711fd
Williams, Anthony P.
973ff46f-46f1-4d7c-b27d-0f53221e4c44
Strazzeri, Fabio
53e63860-d80a-4d70-9804-7b6fea39a601
Schofield, James P. R.
b24e1b56-1372-47f2-9522-dda4eb2e6f83
Skipp, Paul J.
f9724176-6caf-4de0-82f5-b973b6cb30e9
Clark, Tristan W.
712ec18e-613c-45df-a013-c8a22834e14f
Baralle, Diana
faac16e5-7928-4801-9811-8b3a9ea4bb91
Hiscox, Julian A.
d7cefa75-f159-4905-948f-b86a7f14f55d
Penrice-Randal, Rebekah
5cdbce6b-4d9b-46b0-b9b0-27657d78e021
Rickett, Natasha Y.
1a38b95d-a638-43d3-9503-a609a5663ea1
Hartley, Catherine
3a3e5d8a-8b83-4a49-85c0-e8531a98a4b4
Shawli, Ghada T.
016c9bc6-9e1d-42a8-80f2-5c9df31275fa
Shapanis, Andrew George
538c4538-afd2-401b-adaf-fc599e75d2ea
Gardner, Aaron Ions
64961a7a-ae25-4a6b-85ab-4da84bb063b5
Harding, Nicholas
a7f1f08c-fe3b-4235-bfbb-07b163021703
Legebeke, Jelmer
f6062b8c-22ac-465c-9528-3bac881137d0
Lord, Jenny
e1909780-36cd-4705-b21e-4580038d4ec6
Poole, Stephen
440d7904-ab72-469c-892b-c910cd1cb19b
Brendish, Nathan J.
d07b588f-4919-456d-8604-04efde7711fd
Williams, Anthony P.
973ff46f-46f1-4d7c-b27d-0f53221e4c44
Strazzeri, Fabio
53e63860-d80a-4d70-9804-7b6fea39a601
Schofield, James P. R.
b24e1b56-1372-47f2-9522-dda4eb2e6f83
Skipp, Paul J.
f9724176-6caf-4de0-82f5-b973b6cb30e9
Clark, Tristan W.
712ec18e-613c-45df-a013-c8a22834e14f
Baralle, Diana
faac16e5-7928-4801-9811-8b3a9ea4bb91
Hiscox, Julian A.
d7cefa75-f159-4905-948f-b86a7f14f55d
Penrice-Randal, Rebekah
5cdbce6b-4d9b-46b0-b9b0-27657d78e021

[Unknown type: UNSPECIFIED]

Record type: UNSPECIFIED

Abstract

Long read sequencing with Nanopore provides a platform for rapid, accessible, and flexible sequencing of nucleic acids, which is advantageous when faced with an outbreak or biological threat, particularly in situations where there is a lack of and/or demands on specific infrastructure. Investigation of the blood transcriptome can provide a snapshot of the systemic responses within a patient with a view to categorise and/or predict disease progression and outcome. For patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, analysis of the blood transcriptome using Illumina short read sequencing showed that there was a delayed adaptive immune response at the transcript level in those that went on to have a fatal outcome, compared to survivors. The profile of transcript expression data could also be used to predict admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). The use of Nanopore sequencing as a tool for rapid insight into the host response was explored using samples taken at point-of-care from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 or influenza. This was compared to the same samples that had been previously sequenced using Illumina. Although an overall lower abundance of transcripts was identified using Nanopore sequencing in this study, when combined with bioinformatic analysis of expression pathways and functional analysis results, the findings were comparable. This work demonstrated that Nanopore sequencing is a feasible method for gaining rapid insight into the host response, which may contribute to effective patient care and help inform policy decisions in the face of a novel communicable disease, especially in a low-resource setting.

Text
703dccf1-4300-4f40-acf6-196f2a2a1d94 - Author's Original
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (2MB)

More information

Submitted date: 5 August 2025
Accepted/In Press date: 11 August 2025

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 509862
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509862
PURE UUID: a0601ee2-5236-4bde-8467-d488fc463d55
ORCID for Jelmer Legebeke: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1194-8959
ORCID for Jenny Lord: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0539-9343
ORCID for Nathan J. Brendish: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9589-4937
ORCID for Tristan W. Clark: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6026-5295
ORCID for Diana Baralle: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3217-4833

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Mar 2026 17:39
Last modified: 14 Mar 2026 03:08

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Natasha Y. Rickett
Author: Catherine Hartley
Author: Ghada T. Shawli
Author: Andrew George Shapanis
Author: Aaron Ions Gardner
Author: Nicholas Harding
Author: Jelmer Legebeke ORCID iD
Author: Jenny Lord ORCID iD
Author: Stephen Poole
Author: Nathan J. Brendish ORCID iD
Author: Fabio Strazzeri
Author: James P. R. Schofield
Author: Paul J. Skipp
Author: Diana Baralle ORCID iD
Author: Julian A. Hiscox
Author: Rebekah Penrice-Randal

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×