Revealing immune responses in the Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis-infected THP-1 cells using single cell RNA-sequencing

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 2;16(7):e0254194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254194. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is a causative agent of Johne's disease, which is a chronic and debilitating disease in ruminants. MAP is also considered to be a possible cause of Crohn's disease in humans. However, few studies have focused on the interactions between MAP and human macrophages to elucidate the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease. We sought to determine the initial responses of human THP-1 cells against MAP infection using single-cell RNA-seq analysis. Clustering analysis showed that THP-1 cells were divided into seven different clusters in response to phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) treatment. The characteristics of each cluster were investigated by identifying cluster-specific marker genes. From the results, we found that classically differentiated cells express CD14, CD36, and TLR2, and that this cell type showed the most active responses against MAP infection. The responses included the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as CCL4, CCL3, IL1B, IL8, and CCL20. In addition, the Mreg cell type, a novel cell type differentiated from THP-1 cells, was discovered. Thus, it is suggested that different cell types arise even when the same cell line is treated under the same conditions. Overall, analyzing gene expression patterns via scRNA-seq classification allows a more detailed observation of the response to infection by each cell type.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Crohn Disease / immunology
  • Crohn Disease / microbiology
  • Cytokines / immunology
  • Gene Expression / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunity / immunology*
  • Macrophages / immunology
  • Macrophages / microbiology
  • Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / immunology*
  • Paratuberculosis / immunology*
  • Paratuberculosis / microbiology
  • RNA / immunology*
  • Ruminants / immunology
  • Ruminants / microbiology
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA / methods
  • THP-1 Cells / immunology*
  • THP-1 Cells / microbiology

Substances

  • Cytokines
  • RNA

Grants and funding

This work was carried out with the support of the 1Strategic Initiative for Microbiomes in Agriculture and Food, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Korea (No. IPET918020-4), the 2Basic Science Research Program through the NRF funded by the Ministry of Education (No. NRF-2019R1I1A1A01063387), the 3BK FOUR Program for Creative Veterinary Science Research, and the 4Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University, Korea.