biostudies-literatureUnknown9(1)Liu QLupus nephritis (LN), the most severe complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), arises from systemic immune dysregulation and renal damage. While renal immune perturbations are well-studied, systemic signatures specific to LN pathogenesis remain unclear. Integrated single-cell RNA and immune repertoire analysis of 177,259 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors and SLE patients (including active LN and non-nephritis controls) revealed LN-specific circulating immune signatures, including κ light-chain preference in naive B cells and distinct clonal expansion in CD8⁺ effector T cells. These clonally expanded CD8⁺ effector T cells exhibited transcriptional variations indicating increased migratory capacity and exhaustion, along with prefeCommunications biology155https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12868680biostudies-literatureSingle-cell profiling unveils nephritis-related circulating immunological signatures in systemic lupus erythematosus patients.PMC12868680Zheng YWu LYang LZhang JXie XLiu QLi PLi QZhou YHao SBai XCai GLiu XCheng TLin HWang XGuo CChen XDeng YShang SfalseSingle-cell profiling unveils nephritis-related circulating immunological signatures in systemic lupus erythematosus patients.Lupus nephritis (LN), the most severe complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), arises from systemic immune dysregulation and renal damage. While renal immune perturbations are well-studied, systemic signatures specific to LN pathogenesis remain unclear. Integrated single-cell RNA and immune repertoire analysis of 177,259 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors and SLE patients (including active LN and non-nephritis controls) revealed LN-specific circulating immune signatures, including κ light-chain preference in naive B cells and distinct clonal expansion in CD8⁺ effector T cells. These clonally expanded CD8⁺ effector T cells exhibited transcriptional variations indicating increased migratory capacity and exhaustion, along with prefe2026-01-01T00:00:00Z2026 Jan2026-07-15T06:07:51.282Z2026-07-01T03:07:45.47ZS-EPMC128686804149094510.1038/s42003-025-09431-8