Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics identify a macrophage population associated with skeletal muscle fibrosis

Abstract

The monocytic/macrophage system is essential for skeletal muscle homeostasis, but its dysregulation contributes to the pathogenesis of muscle degenerative disorders. Despite our increasing knowledge of the role of macrophages in degenerative disease, it still remains unclear how macrophages contribute to muscle fibrosis. Here, we used single-cell transcriptomics to determine the molecular attributes of dystrophic and healthy muscle macrophages. We identified six novel clusters. Unexpectedly, none corresponded to traditional definitions of M1 or M2 macrophage activation. Rather, the predominant macrophage signature in dystrophic muscle was characterized by high expression of fibrotic factors, galectin-3 and spp1. Spatial transcriptomics and computational inferences of intercellular communication indicated that spp1 regulates stromal progenitor and macrophage interactions during muscular dystrophy. Galectin-3+ macrophages were chronically activated in dystrophic muscle and adoptive transfer assays showed that the galectin-3+ phenotype was the dominant molecular program induced within the dystrophic milieu. Histological examination of human muscle biopsies revealed that galectin-3+ macrophages were also elevated in multiple myopathies. These studies advance our understanding of macrophages in muscular dystrophy by defining the transcriptional programs induced in muscle macrophages, and reveal spp1 as a major regulator of macrophage and stromal progenitor interactions.

Decoding muscle-resident Schwann cell dynamics during neuromuscular junction remodeling

“…While upregulation of Spp1 in muscles of patients suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) 42 and in mice following exercise 43 has been reported, our study uncovers a novel cellular origin contributing to this signaling -originating from muscle-resident myelin Schwann cells, rather than or perhaps in addition to macrophages targeting Fibro/adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) [43][44][45] . The strong induction of Spp1 signaling pathway transcripts we observed concurrent with intense Spp1 immunofluorescence in skeletal muscle after nerve injury suggests Spp1 may have multiple functions to mediate muscle reinnervation.…”