Project description:Palatine tonsils are secondary lymphoid organs that are strategically positioned in the oropharynx to secure a first line of defense against oral pathogens. Specialized immune-interacting fibroblasts, generally termed fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC), underpin distinct microenvironments within lymphoid organs to compartmentalize and direct the efficient interaction and activation of immune cells. As a particular anatomical property, palatine tonsils harbor a reticular-shaped lymphoepithelium that generates an antigen sampling zone in the crypts. While the histological ultrastructure and the immune cell composition of human palatine tonsils has been elaborated in detail, the molecular identity of the diverse stromal cell compartments including FRC and the specialized lymphoepithelium remains largely unknown. Here, we have employed single cell transcriptomics and extensive flow cytometric analyses to unveil the molecular identity of tonsillar cells and to disentangle the heterogeneity of fibroblast and epithelial cell subsets in palatine tonsils. Our results reveal a remarkable conservation of stromal cell organization and molecularly-defined subsets in infant and adult human palatine tonsils.
Project description:B cell-interacting reticular cells (BRC) form transcriptionally and topologically stable immune-interacting microenvironments that direct efficient humoral immunity. While several immune niche factors have been elucidated, the cues sustaining BRC function and topology across activation states remain unclear. Here, we employed single cell RNA-sequencing of human lymph node stromal cells and immune cells to analyse local BRC-immune cell interactions and compare them across SLOs and species from additional datasets. Shared BRC subsets were imprinted by tissue-specific gene signatures, but also expressed functionally convergent niche factors that directed regionalized leukocyte composition. Local BRC-immune cell interactions sustained BRC subset identity via immune cell-provided maturation factors. Bidirectional signalling programs were independent of activation state and mirrored across murine and human tissues. Collectively, our data reveal a conserved set of feedforward BRC-immune cell circuits that sustain topologically-organized, functional niches across inflammatory states, lymphoid organs and species.
Project description:Non-hematopoietic lymph node stromal cells (LNSCs) regulate lymphocyte trafficking, survival, and function for key roles in host defense, autoimmunity, alloimmunity, and lymphoproliferative disorders. However, study of LNSCs in human diseases is complicated by a dependence on viable lymphoid tissues, which are most often excised prior to establishment of a specific diagnosis. Here, we demonstrate that cryopreservation can be used to bank lymphoid tissue for the study of LNSCs in human disease. Using human tonsils, lymphoid tissue fragments were cryopreserved for subsequent enzymatic digestion and recovery of viable non-hematopoietic cells. Flow cytometry and single-cell transcriptomics identified comparable proportions of LNSC cell types in fresh and cryopreserved tissue. Moreover, cryopreservation had little effect on transcriptional profiles, which showed significant overlap between tonsils and lymph nodes. The presence and spatial distribution of transcriptionally defined cell types was confirmed by in situ analyses. Our broadly applicable approach promises to greatly enable research into the roles of LNSC in human disease.
Project description:Immune responses against tumor cells depend on T lymphocyte attraction and activity within the tumor microenvironment. Specialized immune-interacting fibroblasts, commonly referred to as fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC), form specialized niches in secondary lymphoid organs, originate from embryonic progenitors and foster T cell activation. FRCs have also been detected in tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in tumors, differentiating from cancer associated fibroblasts. However, the identity and differentiation of niche-forming cells that foster intra-tumoral T cell activity have remained elusive. Here, we employed single cell RNA-sequencing of EYFP+ fibroblasts and GP33/34-Tetramer+CD8+ T cells from experimental murine lung cancer and cell fate-mapping analysis, which revealed the ability of FRC subsets in lung tumors to differentiate from progenitors situated in mural and adventitial sites. Ablation of FRC progenitors in Tumor T cell environments (TTEs) of murine lungs led to reduced anti-tumor T cell activity and loss of tumor control during experimental coronavirus vector-based immunotherapy. Collectively, our study defines lung cancer-associated FRC niches and key processes involved in stromal-T cell interaction that could pave the way for improved cancer immunotherapy.