The Characteristics of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Takayasu
Arteritis by Single Cell RNA Sequencing
Abstract
Objectives Takayasu Arteritis (TA) is a rare non-specific vascular
inflammation and has deleterious effects on patients’ health. Recent
studies have advanced in TA diagnosis and treatment, but the research on
the immune cell atlas of peripheral blood is still less. For this
purpose, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to analyze
the inflammatory cell types and cell markers in TA patients’ Peripheral
blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Methods 4 TA patients and 4 health
controls were enrolled in our study from 2019.10 to 2020.5. Their PBMCs
samples were collected and performed scRNA-seq. We used Seurat package
(v.3.2.2) in R studio (v.3.5.3) for data analysis, and 2 tests were
applied for comparing the composition ratio of each cell type by SPSS
20.0. Results CD14+ monocytes, GZMB+ NKT cells, CD56dim CD16+ NK cells,
and naive B cells were significantly increased in TA patients as
compared to healthy controls and the expression of THBS1, CD163, AREG,
IFITM1, TXNIP, and IGHGs was elevated in the peripheral blood of TA
patients. Conclusion Except CD4+ T cells, monocytes, NK cells, NKT
cells, B cells also play an important role in TA pathogenesis. The
elevated markers have different functions in different types of PBMCs,
and they can be used as potential diagnostic markers for TA diagnosis.