Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Disparate Effector Differentiation Pathways in Human Treg Compartment [Treg_HD]
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ABSTRACT: Human FOXP3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells are central to immune tolerance. However, their heterogeneity and differentiation remain incompletely understood. Here we use single-cell RNA and T cell receptor sequencing to resolve Treg cells from healthy individuals and patients with or without acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) who undergo stem cell transplantation. These analyses, combined with functional assays, separate Treg cells into naïve/activated/effector stages, and resolve the HLA-DRhi, LIMS1hi, highly suppressive FOXP3hi, and highly proliferative MKI67hi effector subsets. Trajectory analysis assembles Treg subsets into two differentiation paths (I/II) with distinctive phenotypic/functional programs, ending with the FOXP3hi and MKI67hi subsets, respectively. Transcription factors FOXP3 and SUB1 contribute to some Path I and Path II phenotypes, respectively. These FOXP3hi and MKI67hi subsets and two differentiation pathways are conserved in transplanted patients, despite having functional/migratory impairments under aGVHD. The findings expand the understanding of Treg cell heterogeneity and differentiation and provide a single-cell atlas for the dissection of Treg complexity in health and disease.
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE175602 | GEO | 2021/05/27
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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