Dataset Information

Autoreactive effector Treg cells with a compromised regulatory program in patients with coronary artery disease

ABSTRACT: Atherosclerosis, a pathological condition underlying cardiovascular diseases, involves chronic inflammation with a strong autoimmune component. Detailed molecular definition of autoreactive CD4+T cells in atherosclerotic patients is critical for understanding their role in disease pathogenesis. Apolipoprotein B (APOB) is a clinically relevant atherosclerosis-related autoantigen. Here, we used an activation-induced marker assay to conduct deep transcriptomic analyses of circulating APOB-reactive CD4+T cells from 40 patients with coronary artery disease. We identified autoreactive T cells expressing tissue-homing chemokine receptors and effector Treg signatures, suggesting recirculation of APOB-specific CD4+T cells between blood and atherosclerotic plaques. Treg gene signature and oligoclonality peaked in patients with mild disease, but declined in those with severe atherosclerosis. By contrast, clonal expansion and expression of effector molecules in inflammatory APOB-specific CD4+T cells increased with progressing disease severity. Thus, the autoimmune response in atherosclerosis starts with an atheroprotective regulatory program but switches to an inflammatory phenotype, likely accelerating disease progression.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE279783 | GEO | 2025/05/03

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Dataset's files

Source:

			Action	DRS
		Other

Items per page:

1 - 1 of 1

Similar Datasets

Project description:Atherosclerosis is a major pathological condition that underlies many cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Its etiology involves breach of tolerance to self, leading to clonal expansion of autoreactive apolipoprotein B (APOB)–reactive CD4+T cells that correlates with clinical CVD. The T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences that mediate activation of APOB-specific CD4+T cells are unknown. Methods: In a previous study, we had profiled the hypervariable complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) of CD4+T cells that respond to six immunodominant APOB epitopes in most donors. Here, we comprehensively analyze this dataset of 149,065 APOB-reactive and 199,211 non-reactive control CDR3s from six human leukocyte antigen–typed donors. Results: We identified 672 highly expanded (frequency threshold > 1.39E-03) clones that were significantly enriched in the APOB-reactive group as compared to the controls (log10 odds ratio ≥1, Fisher’s test p < 0.01). Analysis of 114,755 naïve, 91,001 central memory (TCM) and 29,839 effector memory (TEM) CDR3 sequences from the same donors revealed that APOB+ clones can be traced to the complex repertoire of unenriched blood T cells. The fraction of APOB+ clones that overlapped with memory CDR3s ranged from 2.2% to 46% (average 16.4%). This was significantly higher than their overlap with the naïve pool, which ranged from 0.7% to 2% (average 1.36%). CDR3 motif analysis with the machine learning–based in-silico tool, GLIPHs (grouping of lymphocyte interactions by paratope hotspots), identified 532 APOB+ motifs. Analysis of naïve and memory CDR3 sequences with GLIPH revealed that ~40% (209 of 532) of these APOB+motifs were enriched in the memory pool. Network analysis with Cytoscape revealed extensive sharing of the memory-affiliated APOB+ motifs across multiple donors. We identified six motifs that were present in TCM and TEM CDR3 sequences from >80% of the donors and were highly enriched in the APOB-reactive TCR repertoire. Discussion: The identified APOB-reactive expanded CD4+T cell clones and conserved motifs can be used to annotate and track human atherosclerosis-related autoreactive CD4+T cells and measure their clonal expansion.

Project description:Monocytes and T-cells play an important role in the development of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD). Differences in transcriptional activity of these cells might reflect the individual's atherosclerotic burden. Transcriptome analysis of circulating mononuclear cells from carefully matched atherosclerotic and control patients will potentially provide insights into the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and supply biomarkers for diagnostic purposes. From patients undergoing coronary angiography because of anginal symptoms, we carefully matched 18 patients with severe triple-vessel CAD to 13 control patients without signs of CAD on angiography. All patients were on statin and aspirin treatment. RNA from circulating CD4+ T-cells, CD14+ monocytes, lipopolysaccharide-stimulated monocytes, macrophages and CD34+ progenitor cells was subjected to genome-wide expression analysis. Only CD14+ monocytes demonstrated that a small number of genes involved in activation was overexpressed in control patients, which was verified by real-time polymerase-chain reaction. In this pilot study, cautious matching of patients with severe atherosclerotic CAD with control patients without angiographic signs of coronary atherosclerosis did not reveal differences in transcriptional activity in four out of five different mononuclear cell types. In resting monocytes from patients without overt CAD some inflammatory genes were overexpressed as compared to patients with severe CAD. Large inter-individual variability prevented the use of single differentially expressed genes as biomarkers. Keywords: disease-state analysis In total 153 arrays were analyzed with 6 technical replicates (147 biological samples). CD34+ stem cells, CD4+ T-cells, resting CD14+ monocytes, stimulated monocytes and macrophages were analyzed, all from patient with severe coronary atherosclerosis or controls that had no coronary atherosclerosis as determined angiographically, and which were carefully matched for age and gender.

Project description:Regression of atherosclerosis is an important clinical goal, however the pathways that mediate the resolution of atherosclerotic inflammation and reversal of plaques are poorly understood. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been shown to be atheroprotective, however numbers of these immunosuppressive cells decrease with disease progression. Using multiple independent mouse models of atherosclerosis regression, we demonstrate that an increase in plaque Tregs is a common signature of regressing plaques. To test if Tregs are required for the resolution of atherosclerotic inflammation and plaque regression during lipid-lowering therapy, we combined CD25 monoclonal antibody (PC61 mAb)-mediated Treg depletion with single-cell RNA-sequencing of immune cells in the plaque and conventional analyses of atherosclerosis. Single cell RNA-sequencing revealed that Tregs from aortic plaques shared some similarity with splenic Tregs, but were distinct from skin and colon Tregs supporting recent findings of tissue-dependent Treg heterogeneity. Furthermore, Tregs from progressing plaques expressed markers of natural Tregs derived from the thymus, whereas Tregs in regressing plaques lacked Nrp1 and Helios expression, suggesting that they are induced in the periphery during lipid lowering. Treatment of atherosclerotic mice with PC61 mAb effectively depleted Tregs in the blood and peripheral tissues, including plaques, and blocked the regression of atherosclerosis induced by apoB anti-sense oligonucleotides. Morphometric analyses revealed that control antibody-treated mice showed a 40% decrease in plaque burden and macrophage content under regression conditions, whereas PC61 mAb-treated mice showed no change in plaque size or inflammatory cell content compared to baseline. Moreover, Treg depletion enhanced inflammatory signaling and blocked tissue reparative functions of macrophages in the regressing plaque, including M2-polarization, efferocytosis and sensing of specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators. Together, these data establish essential roles for Tregs in the resolution of atherosclerotic inflammation and plaque remodeling during regression.

Dataset Information

Autoreactive effector Treg cells with a compromised regulatory program in patients with coronary artery disease

Dataset's files

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets