Peripheral immunophenotyping of AITD subjects reveals alterations in immune cells in pediatric vs adult-onset AITD

Zachary C Stensland; Brianne M Coleman; Marynette Rihanek; Ryan M Baxter; Peter A Gottlieb; Elena W Y Hsieh; Virginia D Sarapura; Kimber M Simmons; John C Cambier; Mia J Smith

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103626

Peripheral immunophenotyping of AITD subjects reveals alterations in immune cells in pediatric vs adult-onset AITD

iScience. 2021 Dec 13;25(1):103626. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103626. eCollection 2022 Jan 21.

Authors

Zachary C Stensland^{1

2}, Brianne M Coleman³, Marynette Rihanek², Ryan M Baxter³, Peter A Gottlieb², Elena W Y Hsieh^{3

4}, Virginia D Sarapura⁵, Kimber M Simmons², John C Cambier³, Mia J Smith^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
² Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
³ Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Section of Allergy and Immunology, Children's Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
⁵ Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.

Abstract

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is caused by aberrant activation of the immune system allowing autoreactive B and T cells to target the thyroid gland leading to disease. Although AITD is more frequently diagnosed in adults, children are also affected but rarely studied. Here, we performed phenotypic and functional characterization of peripheral blood immune cells from pediatric and adult-onset AITD patients and age-matched controls using mass cytometry. Major findings indicate that unlike adult-onset AITD patients, pediatric AITD patients exhibit a decrease in anergic B cells (B_ND) and DN2 B cells and an increase in immature B cells compared to age-matched controls. These results indicate alterations in peripheral blood immune cells seen in pediatric-onset AITD could lead to rapid progression of disease. Hence, this study demonstrates diversity of AITD by showing differences in immune cell phenotypes and function based on age of onset, and may inform future therapies.

Keywords: Cell biology; Immunological methods; Immunology.

Abstract

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