Project description:In adult mice the majority of intestinal macrophages exhibit a mature phenotype and are derived from blood monocytes. In the steady state replenishment of these cells is reduced in the absence of the chemokine receptor Ccr2. Within the intestine of mice with colitis there is marked increase in the accumulation of immature macrophages that demonstrate an inflammatory phenotype. However, whether Ccr2 is necessary for the accumulation of these immature macrophages and further for the development of colitis in susceptible mouse models is incompletely defined. Here, we ask whether Ccr2 is necessary for the development of colitis in mice lacking the receptor for IL10. We compared the development of intestinal inflammation in mice lacking IL10RA or both IL10RA and Ccr2. The absence of Ccr2 interfered with the accumulation of immature macrophages in IL10R-deficien mice, including a novel population of rounded submucosal Iba1+ cells and reduced the severity of colitis in these mice. In contrast, the absence of Ccr2 did not reduce augmented inflammatory gene expression observed in mature intestinal macrophages isolated from mice lacking IL10RA. These data suggest that both newly recruited Ccr2-dependent immature macrophages and Ccr2-independent residual mature macrophages contribute to the development of intestinal inflammation observed in IL10R-deficient mice.
Project description:In order to explore and compare the transcriptomic profile of CCR2+ macrophages, CCR2- macrophages and dendritic cells present in the dermis and hypodermis of C57BL/6 mice, isolated cells were subjected to RNA-sequencing analysis.
Project description:Stroma provides tissues with structural integrity and organization, but its capacity to shape myeloid cells is poorly understood. Here we quantify stromal response to inflammation in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and reveal subset-specific inflammatory responses across colon segments and intestinal layers. Using data from a murine dynamic gut injury model and human ex vivo transcriptomic/protein/spatial analysis, we found that PDGFRA+CD142-/low fibroblasts and monocytes/macrophages co-localize in the intestine. Primary human fibroblast-monocyte co-cultures showed that intestinal PDGFRA+CD142-/low fibroblasts foster monocyte transition to CCR2+CD206+ macrophages through granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Monocyte-derived CCR2+CD206+ cells from co-cultures had a phenotype similar to intestinal CCR2+CD206+ macrophages from newly diagnosed pediatric IBD patients, with higher levels of PD-L1 and lower levels of GM-CSF receptor. The study depicts subset-specific changes in stromal response to inflammation and demonstrates the stromal potential to guide intestinal macrophage differentiation.
Project description:Comparative analysis of FACS-sorted CCR2- and CCR2+ HSC in the steady state. CCR2+ HSC have fourfold higher proliferative rates than CCR2- HSC, are are biased towards the myeloid lineage and dominate the migratory HSC population. Comparison of pooled CCR2- and CCR2+ HSC (bone marrow from 20 mice pooled for each sample), three biological replicates each.
Project description:We developed a simplified flow cytometry strategy in order to discriminate monocytes and macrophages in the lung of C57BL/6 mice. Using this strategy, we identified autofluorescent F4/80+ CD11c+ alveolar macrophages, non-autofluorescent CD64+Ly-6C- interstitial macrophages and Ly-6Chi monocytes residing in the lung of WT mice. A fraction of these Ly-6Chi monocytes corresponded to classical blood monocytes associated with the lung vasculature, but another fraction did not depend on CCR2, the chemokine receptor required for monocytes to egress from the bone marrow, as a population of lung Ly-6Chi monocytes was also present in the lung of Ccr2-/- mice. A remaining question was whether lung monocytes represented a particular population of monocytes that could be distinguishable from the classical CCR2-dependent blood monocytes. To address this issue, we performed a transcriptomic comparison of Ly-6Chi monocytes recovered from flushed lung of WT mice (â60% of CCR2- dependent classical blood monocytes and â40% of lung monocytes) and Ccr2-/- mice (more than 95% of lung monocytes). In addition, we tested whether exposure to TLR ligands would affect interstitial macrophages, and we compared to transcriptome of IM at steady-state and IM 1 week after administration of 50 µg CpG-DNA intratracheally.
Project description:We used microarrays to detail the global gene expression in CCR2+ and CCR2- spenic macrophages (SM) sorted from C57BL6 mouse infected with Listeria Monocytogenes in vivo on day3
Project description:Therapies targeting oncogene addiction have had a tremendous impact on tumor growth and patient outcome, but drug resistance continues to be problematic. One approach to deal with the challenge of resistance entails extending anti-cancer treatments beyond targeting cancer cells by additionally altering the tumor microenvironment. Understanding how the tumor microenvironment contributes to the evolution of diverse resistance pathways could aid in the design of sequential treatments that can elicit and take advantage of a predictable resistance trajectory. Tumor associated macrophages are often the most abundant immune cell found in tumors. Here, we used clinically relevant in vivo Braf-mutant melanoma models with fluorescent markers to track the stage-specific changes in macrophages under targeted therapy with Braf/Mek inhibitors and assessed the dynamic evolution of the macrophage population generated by therapy pressure-induced stress. During the onset of a drug-tolerant persister state, Ccr2+ monocyte-derived macrophage infiltration rose, suggesting that macrophage influx at this point could facilitate the onset of stable drug resistance after several weeks of treatment. Comparison of melanomas that develop in a Ccr2-proficient or deficient microenvironment demonstrated that lack of melanoma infiltrating Ccr2+ macrophages delayed onset of resistance and shifted melanoma cell evolution towards unstable resistance. Unstable resistance was characterized by sensitivity to targeted therapy when factors from the microenvironment were lost. Importantly, this phenotype was reversed by co-culturing melanoma cells with Ccr2+ macrophages. Overall, this study demonstrates that the development of resistance may be directed by altering the tumor microenvironment to improve treatment timing and the probability of relapse.