Author

Kerstin Westendorf

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Jul 2026

ImmuneSpace in 2026: A Centralized Repository for Curated Human Immune-Profiling Data 2310296

ImmuneSpace (immunespace.org) is a freely accessible database that hosts curated human immune-profiling data from a wide range of studies. It was created as the central data repository of the Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC), a multi-center NIH-funded program to characterize the diverse states of the human immune system and its regulation, using consistently formatted data [PMID: 23648045]. The overarching goal is to investigate human immune perturbations using state-of-the-art systems-level profiling technologies and innovative methodologies, and to make these data available to the scientific community, accessible for both humans and machines. ImmuneSpace hosts data related to immunological exposure, demographics, cytokine profiling, cytometry, and neutralizing antibody assays. It builds on the ImmPort data model, a long-term archive of research and clinical data for the NIH [PMID: 29485622], but implements additional standardization and normalization rules, following the HIPC Data Standards initiative [PMID: 22343568, 26861911, 31272390, 32283555]. ImmuneSpace is continuously updated with data and features. Each study undergoes enhanced curation to ensure consistent use of ontology-based terminology, enabling more efficient queries both within and across studies. Study components stored in different repositories, unparsed raw data, and computationally inaccessible elements are integrated through manual curation, such as study timelines and author-determined ‘immune signatures’. Recently, we have added the ‘Finder Feature’ which simplifies complex searches through a hierarchical, tree-based interface that allows users to visually browse, search with autocomplete, or select entire branches of categorized filters while providing definitions, synonyms, and ontology links. The HIPC Project and the ImmuneSpace platform demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of a structured approach to representing human immunological studies to elucidate system-level phenomena. U01 AI167892 Computational and Systems Immunology (COMP)

Kerstin Westendorf, M. Kojima, James A. Overton et al. · Journal of Immunology · 0 citations

Open access Aug 2026

Virus reactivation in acute and long COVID-19

Chronic viral infections are ubiquitous in humans, with individuals carrying multiple viruses that can reactivate during physiological stress, including severe illness1. Notably, SARS-CoV-2 infection has been shown to reactivate chronic viruses such as Epstein–Barr virus and cytomegalovirus, yet the full extent, temporal dynamics and immunological impact of viral reactivation in COVID-19 remain incompletely understood2, 3, 4, 5, 6–7. Here, leveraging multi-omic longitudinal data from 1,154 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 from the Immunophenotyping Assessment in a COVID-19 Cohort (IMPACC) study, we reveal significant reactivation of Herpesviridae and Anelloviridae during acute COVID-19, with distinct temporal dynamics for different viruses, and demonstrate that reactivation correlates with disease severity, host immune effects and clinical outcomes. Although our results do not establish causation between virus reactivation and clinical outcomes, we highlight the prevalence of chronic viral reactivation during acute COVID-19 and long COVID. Our findings challenge the prevailing view that chronic viral reactivation is primarily a consequence of immunosuppression, demonstrating that reactivations occur frequently in immunocompetent individuals during severe illness and in association with increased systemic inflammation. Additionally, we demonstrate persistence of viral reactivation in convalescence, and report an association of Anelloviridae with long COVID. This study provides immune, transcriptomic and metabolomic signatures of viral reactivation that could inform future strategies to prognosticate and treat acute COVID-19 and long COVID. Chronic reactivation of distinct herpesviruses and anelloviruses occur during acute and long COVID-19, and track with disease severity, inflammation and outcomes, revealing immune signatures with prognostic potential.

Cole P. Maguire, Jing Chen, Nadine Rouphael et al. · Nature · 3 citations