Exploring the molecular mechanisms of macrophages in islet transplantation using single-cell analysis

作者：Zuhui Pu, Shujuan Chen, Ying Lü, Zijing Wu, Zhiming Cai, Lisha Mou · 发表于：Frontiers in Immunology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.3389/fimmu.2024.1407118 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Pancreatic function and diabetes、Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics、Diabetes and associated disorders

Background: Islet transplantation is a promising treatment for type 1 diabetes that aims to restore insulin production and improve glucose control, but long-term graft survival remains a challenge due to immune rejection. Methods: ScRNA-seq data from syngeneic and allogeneic islet transplantation grafts were obtained from GSE198865. Seurat was used for filtering and clustering, and UMAP was used for dimension reduction. Differentially expressed genes were analyzed between syngeneic and allogeneic islet transplantation grafts. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was performed on the HALLMARK gene sets from MSigDB. Monocle 2 was used to reconstruct differentiation trajectories, and cytokine signature enrichment analysis was used to compare cytokine responses between syngeneic and allogeneic grafts. Results: Three distinct macrophage clusters (Mø-C1, Mø-C2, and Mø-C3) were identified, revealing complex interactions and regulatory mechanisms within macrophage populations. The significant activation of macrophages in allogeneic transplants was marked by the upregulation of allograft rejection-related genes and pathways involved in inflammatory and interferon responses. GSVA revealed eight pathways significantly upregulated in the Mø-C2 cluster. Trajectory analysis revealed that Mø-C3 serves as a common progenitor, branching into Mø-C1 and Mø-C2. Cytokine signature enrichment analysis revealed significant differences in cytokine responses, highlighting the distinct immunological env...