Title
Follicular T cells are clonally and transcriptionally distinct in B cell-driven mouse autoimmune disease
Date Issued
01 December 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Akama-Garren E.H.
van den Broek T.
Simoni L.
van der Poel C.E.
Carroll M.C.
Boston Children’s Hospital
Publisher(s)
Nature Research
Abstract
Pathogenic autoantibodies contribute to tissue damage and clinical decline in autoimmune disease. Follicular T cells are central regulators of germinal centers, although their contribution to autoantibody-mediated disease remains unclear. Here we perform single cell RNA and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing of follicular T cells in a mouse model of autoantibody-mediated disease, allowing for analyses of paired transcriptomes and unbiased TCRαβ repertoires at single cell resolution. A minority of clonotypes are preferentially shared amongst autoimmune follicular T cells and clonotypic expansion is associated with differential gene signatures in autoimmune disease. Antigen prediction using algorithmic and machine learning approaches indicates convergence towards shared specificities between non-autoimmune and autoimmune follicular T cells. However, differential autoimmune transcriptional signatures are preserved even amongst follicular T cells with shared predicted specificities. These results demonstrate that follicular T cells are phenotypically distinct in B cell-driven autoimmune disease, providing potential therapeutic targets to modulate autoantibody development.
Volume
12
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Tecnología médica de laboratorio (análisis de muestras, tecnologías para el diagnóstico) Bioquímica, Biología molecular
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85119355561
PubMed ID
Source
Nature Communications
ISSN of the container
20411723
Sponsor(s)
We thank H. Leung of the Optical Microscopy Core and J. Moore of the Flow and Imaging Cytometry Resource at the PCMM for technical assistance. E.A.G. was supported by NIH grants T32GM007753, T32AI007529, and F30AI160909. T.v.d.B. was supported by the H2020-MSCA-IF-GF project BEAT No. 796988. M.C.C. is supported by NIH R01AR074105.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus