Mapping the developing human immune system across organs

Abstract

Single-cell genomics studies have decoded the immune-cell composition of several human prenatal organs but were limited in understanding the developing immune system as a distributed network across tissues. We profiled nine prenatal tissues combining single-cell RNA sequencing, antigen-receptor sequencing, and spatial transcriptomics to reconstruct the developing human immune system. This revealed the late acquisition of immune effector functions by myeloid and lymphoid cell subsets and the maturation of monocytes and T cells prior to peripheral tissue seeding. Moreover, we uncovered system-wide blood and immune cell development beyond primary hematopoietic organs, characterized human prenatal B1 cells, and shed light on the origin of unconventional T cells. Our atlas provides both valuable data resources and biological insights that will facilitate cell engineering, regenerative medicine, and disease understanding.

Morphodynamic Atlas for Drosophila Development

“…There is a long history of constructing transcriptomic and protein expression atlases to tackle outstanding questions in morphogenesis [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Existing atlases have been, by necessity, static representations of embryo components at a collection of specific points in time [4,8,9].…”

(Not) Home alone: Antigen presenting cell – T Cell communication in barrier tissues

“…Analyses like these have revealed novel regulatory T cell-APC interactions at the maternal-fetal interface important for embryo implantation ( 361 ), a renewed focus on pDCs in skin inflammation ( 362 ), novel Vδ1 T cell effector subsets ( 363 ), and detailed profiling of different immune niches and interactions across the human intestine ( 54 ). Further, a better understanding of tissue adaptation of different immune cells is becoming appreciated, highlighting basic principles of immune biology in barrier tissues but also appreciating that these cells have the potential to specifically adapt to the local tissue environment and how this changes in disease ( 126 , 364 – 366 ). As highlighted in this review, communication between different immune cell types is absolutely essential in determining the outcome of an immune response and understanding this interplay at a deeper level in local tissues is an important step towards developing new therapeutic avenues that can act in a much more targeted manner than previously possible.…”

Editorial: Single Cell Analysis – Discovery, Development and Implications to Study Cell-Cell and Cell-Pathogen Interactions

“…Single-cell analysis has made and will be continuously making great progress in terms of both discovery of new cellular phenomena in various kinds of research areas and novel platform innovation. Based on single-cell analysis, new eukaryote cell types have been identified in immunological and neurological systems, and in cancerous tumors, etc., as demonstrated in the most recent gigantic efforts (Conde et al, 2022;Eraslan et al, 2022;Suo et al, 2022;The Tabula Sapiens Consortium, 2022). Without doubt, new biomarkers, novel diagnostic methods and treatments will be developed based on these discoveries.…”