ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4299-159X
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-07-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S12974-021-02214-Y
Abstract: Differentiating infiltrating myeloid cells from resident microglia in neuroinflammatory disease is challenging, because bone marrow-derived inflammatory monocytes infiltrating the inflamed brain adopt a ‘microglia-like’ phenotype. This precludes the accurate identification of either cell type without genetic manipulation, which is important to understand their temporal contribution to disease and inform effective intervention in its pathogenesis. During West Nile virus (WNV) encephalitis, widespread neuronal infection drives substantial CNS infiltration of inflammatory monocytes, causing severe immunopathology and/or death, but the role of microglia in this remains unclear. Using high-parameter cytometry and dimensionality-reduction, we devised a simple, novel gating strategy to identify microglia and infiltrating myeloid cells during WNV-infection. Validating our strategy, we (1) blocked the entry of infiltrating myeloid populations from peripheral blood using monoclonal blocking antibodies, (2) adoptively transferred BM-derived monocytes and tracked their phenotypic changes after infiltration and (3) labelled peripheral leukocytes that infiltrate into the brain with an intravenous dye. We demonstrated that myeloid immigrants populated only the identified macrophage gates, while PLX5622 depletion reduced all 4 subsets defined by the microglial gates. Using this gating approach, we identified four consistent microglia subsets in the homeostatic and WNV-infected brain. These were P2RY12 hi CD86 − , P2RY12 hi CD86 + and P2RY12 lo CD86 − P2RY12 lo CD86 + . During infection, 2 further populations were identified as 'inflammatory' and 'microglia-like' macrophages, recruited from the bone marrow. Detailed kinetic analysis showed significant increases in the proportions of both P2RY12 lo microglia subsets in all anatomical areas, largely at the expense of the P2RY12 hi CD86 − subset, with the latter undergoing compensatory proliferation, suggesting replenishment of, and differentiation from this subset in response to infection. Microglia altered their morphology early in infection, with all cells adopting temporal and regional disease-specific phenotypes. Late in disease, microglia produced IL-12, downregulated CX3CR1, F4/80 and TMEM119 and underwent apoptosis. Infiltrating macrophages expressed both TMEM119 and P2RY12 de novo, with the microglia-like subset notably exhibiting the highest proportional myeloid population death. Our approach enables detailed kinetic analysis of resident vs infiltrating myeloid cells in a wide range of neuroinflammatory models without non-physiological manipulation. This will more clearly inform potential therapeutic approaches that specifically modulate these cells.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-12-2022
DOI: 10.1002/GLIA.24314
Abstract: Microglia and bone marrow‐derived monocytes are key elements of central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, both capable of enhancing and d ening immune‐mediated pathology. However, the study‐specific focus on in idual cell types, disease models or experimental approaches has limited our ability to infer common and disease‐specific responses. This meta‐analysis integrates bulk and single‐cell transcriptomic datasets of microglia and monocytes from disease models of autoimmunity, neurodegeneration, sterile injury, and infection to build a comprehensive resource connecting myeloid responses across CNS disease. We demonstrate that the bulk microglial and monocyte program is highly contingent on the disease environment, challenging the notion of a universal microglial disease signature. Integration of six single‐cell RNA‐sequencing datasets revealed that these disease‐specific signatures are likely driven by differing proportions of unique myeloid subpopulations that were in idually expanded in different disease settings. These subsets were functionally‐defined as neurodegeneration‐associated, inflammatory, interferon‐responsive, phagocytic, antigen‐presenting, and lipopolysaccharide‐responsive cellular states, revealing a core set of myeloid responses at the single‐cell level that are conserved across CNS pathology. Showcasing the predictive and practical value of this resource, we performed differential expression analysis on microglia and monocytes across disease and identified Cd81 as a new neuroinflammatory‐stable gene that accurately identified microglia and distinguished them from monocyte‐derived cells across all experimental models at both the bulk and single‐cell level. Together, this resource dissects the influence of disease environment on shared immune response programmes to build a unified perspective of myeloid behavior across CNS pathology.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 08-12-2020
DOI: 10.3389/FIMMU.2020.600822
Abstract: Inflammation of the brain parenchyma is characteristic of neurodegenerative, autoimmune, and neuroinflammatory diseases. During this process, microglia, which populate the embryonic brain and become a permanent sentinel myeloid population, are inexorably joined by peripherally derived monocytes, recruited by the central nervous system. These cells can quickly adopt a morphology and immunophenotype similar to microglia. Both microglia and monocytes have been implicated in inducing, enhancing, and/or maintaining immune-mediated pathology and thus disease progression in a number of neuropathologies. For many years, experimental and analytical systems have failed to differentiate resident microglia from peripherally derived myeloid cells accurately. This has impeded our understanding of their precise functions in, and contributions to, these diseases, and h ered the development of novel treatments that could target specific cell subsets. Over the past decade, microglia have been investigated more intensively in the context of neuroimmunological research, fostering the development of more precise experimental systems. In light of our rapidly growing understanding of these cells, we discuss the differential origins of microglia and peripherally derived myeloid cells in the inflamed brain, with an analysis of the problems resolving these cell types phenotypically and morphologically, and highlight recent developments enabling more precise identification.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S00401-021-02384-2
Abstract: In neurological diseases, the actions of microglia, the resident myeloid cells of the CNS parenchyma, may erge from, or intersect with, those of recruited monocytes to drive immune-mediated pathology. However, defining the precise roles of each cell type has historically been impeded by the lack of discriminating markers and experimental systems capable of accurately identifying them. Our ability to distinguish microglia from monocytes in neuroinflammation has advanced with single-cell technologies, new markers and drugs that identify and deplete them, respectively. Nevertheless, the focus of in idual studies on particular cell types, diseases or experimental approaches has limited our ability to connect phenotype and function more widely and across erse CNS pathologies. Here, we critically review, tabulate and integrate the disease-specific functions and immune profiles of microglia and monocytes to provide a comprehensive atlas of myeloid responses in viral encephalitis, demyelination, neurodegeneration and ischemic injury. In emphasizing the differential roles of microglia and monocytes in the severe neuroinflammatory disease of viral encephalitis, we connect inflammatory pathways common to equally incapacitating diseases with less severe inflammation. We examine these findings in the context of human studies and highlight the benefits and inherent limitations of animal models that may impede or facilitate clinical translation. This enables us to highlight common and contrasting, non-redundant and often opposing roles of microglia and monocytes in disease that could be targeted therapeutically.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 03-08-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.01.549954
Abstract: Advances in single cell analysis, especially cytometric approaches, have profoundly innovated immunological research. This has resulted in an expansion of high dimensional data, posing great challenges for comprehensive and unbiased analysis. Conventional manual analysis thus becomes untenable, while most computational methods lack flexibility and interoperability, h ering usability. Here, for the first time, we adapted Seurat, a single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis package, for end-to-end flow cytometric data analysis. We showcased its robust analytical capacity by analyzing the adult blood and cord blood T cell profiles, which was validated by Spectre, another cytometric data analysis package, and manual analysis. Importantly, a unique CD8 + CD45RA + CD27 + CD161 + T cell subset, was identified in cord blood and characterized using flow cytometry and scRNA-seq analysis from a published dataset. Collectively, Seurat possesses great potential for cytometric data analysis. It facilitates thorough interpretations of high dimensional data using a single pipeline, implementing data-driven investigation in clinical immunology.
No related grants have been discovered for Claire L. Wishart.