Single-cell RNA-seq revealing the immune features of donor liver during liver transplantation

Yi Shan; Debin Qi; Lei Zhang; Lixue Wu; Wenfang Li; Hao Liu; Tao Li; Zhiren Fu; Haili Bao; Shaohua Song

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1096733

Single-cell RNA-seq revealing the immune features of donor liver during liver transplantation

Front Immunol. 2023 Feb 8:14:1096733. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1096733. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yi Shan¹, Debin Qi², Lei Zhang², Lixue Wu¹, Wenfang Li¹, Hao Liu², Tao Li², Zhiren Fu², Haili Bao², Shaohua Song²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, Naval Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of General Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Immune cells, including T and B cells, are key factors in the success of liver transplantation. And the repertoire of T cells and B cells plays an essential function in mechanism of the immune response associated with organ transplantation. An exploration of their expression and distribution in donor organs could contribute to a better understanding of the altered immune microenvironment in grafts. In this study, using single-cell 5' RNA sequence and single-cell T cell receptor (TCR)/B cell receptor (BCR) repertoire sequence, we profiled immune cells and TCR/BCR repertoire in three pairs of donor livers pre- and post-transplantation. By annotating different immune cell types, we investigated the functional properties of monocytes/Kupffer cells, T cells and B cells in grafts. Bioinformatic characterization of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the transcriptomes of these cell subclusters were performed to explore the role of immune cells in inflammatory response or rejection. In addition, we also observed shifts in TCR/BCR repertoire after transplantation. In conclusion, we profiled the immune cell transcriptomics and TCR/BCR immune repertoire of liver grafts during transplantation, which may offer novel strategies for monitoring recipient immune function and treatment of rejection after liver transplantation.

Keywords: donor liver; immune repertoire; liver transplantation; single cell RNA sequence; transcriptome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Liver
Liver Transplantation*
Living Donors
Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / genetics
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / genetics
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / genetics
Single-Cell Gene Expression Analysis

Substances

Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82270681, No. 81970563), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFC2304700), Shanghai Municipal Planning Commission of Clinical Research Fund (No. 202240279) and Important and special project of National Science and Technique (No. 2022YFC3103001-004).