Summary: Human T cells coordinate adaptive immunity by localization in diverse tissue sites, though blood T cells are the most readily studied. We investigated the functional responses of T cells isolated from human lungs (LG), lymph nodes (LN), bone marrow (BM), and blood to TCR-stimulation using single-cell RNA-seq. We defined cellular states for resting T cells including signatures that differentiate tissue and blood T cells and employed new factorization methods to identify activation states conserved across tissues, including an IFN-response activation state in CD4+T cells and distinct effector states specific to CD8+T cells. We demonstrate how this high-resolution map can be used to assess the origin and functional state of T cells in disease by projecting scRNAseq profiles of tumor-associated T cells from multiple cancers, revealing CD8 T cells that co-express markers of exhaustion, activation, and proliferation, and a lack of activated CD4 T cells. Our results establish a high-dimensional reference for human T cell homeostasis and function in multiple sites, from which to probe T cell dysfunction in disease.
Overall Design: Single-cell RNA-sequencing of control and and anti-CD3/anti-CD28 stimulated T cells from human lung, lymph node, bone marrow and blood.
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Healthy Condition: |
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Growth Protocol: | - |
Treatment Protocol: | stimulation: none; stimulation: CD3/CD28 T Cell Activator (STEMCELL Technologies) |
Extract Protocol: | Tissues acquired from donors were maintained in cold saline during transport to the laboratory, typically within 2-4 hours of procurement. We flushed the left lobe of the lungs with cold complete medium (RPMI 1640, 10% FBS, 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 ug/ml streptomycin, 2 mM L-glutamine) and isolated lymph nodes from the hilum, near the intersections of major bronchi and pulmonary veins and arteries, removing all fat. To obtain mononuclear cell suspensions, hilar lymph nodes and the left lateral basal segment of the lung were mechanically processed using a gentleMACS tissue dissociator (Miltenyi Biotec), enzymatically digested (complete medium with 1 mg/ml collagenase D, 1 mg/ml trypsin inhibitor and 0.1 mg/ml DNase for 1 hour at 37℃ in a mechanical shaker) and centrifuged on a density gradient using 30% Percoll Plus (GE Healthcare). We aspirated bone marrow from near the anterior superior iliac crest. For bone marrow and peripheral blood, we isolated mononuclear cells by density gradient centrifugation using Lymphocyte Separation Medium (Corning). Next, we enriched single cell suspensions from all tissues and blood for untouched CD3+ T cells using magnetic negative selection (MojoSort Human CD3+ T cell Isolation Kit; BioLegend). To eliminate any dead cells prior to stimulation, we used a dead cell removal kit (Miltenyi Biotec). We cultured 0.5 -1 x 106 CD3+ enriched cells from each donor tissue for 16 hours at 37℃ in complete medium, with or without TCR stimulation using Human CD3/CD28 T Cell Activator (STEMCELL Technologies). After stimulation, we removed dead cells as above before preparing cells for single-cell RNA-seq. |
Library Construction Protocol: | We loaded single-cell suspensions into a Chromium Single Cell Chip (10x Genomics) according to the manufacturer's instructions for co-encapsulation with barcoded Gel Beads at a target capture rate of ~5,000 individual cells per sample. We barcoded the captured mRNA during cDNA synthesis and converted the barcoded cDNA into pooled single-cell RNA-seq libraries for Illumina sequencing using the Chromium Single Cell 3' Solution (10x Genomics) according to the manufacturer's instructions. We processed all of the samples for a given donor simultaneously with the Chromium Controller (10x Genomics) and prepared the resulting libraries in parallel in a single batch. We pooled all of the libraries for a given donor, each of which was barcoded with a unique Illumina sample index, for sequencing in a single Illumina flow cell. |
Molecule Type: | poly(A)+ RNA |
Library Source: | |
Library Layout: | PAIRED |
Library Strand: | Forward |
Platform: | ILLUMINA |
Instrument Model: | Illumina HiSeq 4000 |
Strand-Specific: | Specific |
Data Resource | GEN Sample ID | GEN Dataset ID | Project ID | BioProject ID | Sample ID | Sample Name | BioSample ID | Sample Accession | Experiment Accession | Release Date | Submission Date | Update Date | Species | Race | Ethnicity | Age | Age Unit | Gender | Source Name | Tissue | Cell Type | Cell Subtype | Cell Line | Disease | Disease State | Development Stage | Mutation | Phenotype | Case Detail | Control Detail | Growth Protocol | Treatment Protocol | Extract Protocol | Library Construction Protocol | Molecule Type | Library Layout | Strand-Specific | Library Strand | Spike-In | Strategy | Platform | Instrument Model | Cell Number | Reads Number | Gbases | AvgSpotLen1 | AvgSpotLen2 | Uniq Mapping Rate | Multiple Mapping Rate | Coverage Rate |
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