Melsen JE, van Ostaijen-ten Dam MM, Schoorl DJA, Schol PJ, van den Homberg DAL, Lankester AC, Lugthart G, Schilham MW. Single-cell transcriptomics in bone marrow delineates CD56
dimGranzymeK
+ subset as intermediate stage in NK cell differentiation.
Front Immunol 2022;
13:1044398. [PMID:
36505452 PMCID:
PMC9730327 DOI:
10.3389/fimmu.2022.1044398]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Human natural killer (NK) cells in lymphoid tissues can be categorized into three subsets: CD56brightCD16+, CD56dimCD16+ and CD69+CXCR6+ lymphoid tissue-resident (lt)NK cells. How the three subsets are functionally and developmentally related is currently unknown. Therefore, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing combined with oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies against CD56, CXCR6, CD117 and CD34 on fresh bone marrow NK cells. A minor CD56dimGzmK+ subset was identified that shared features with CD56bright and CD56dimGzmK- NK cells based on transcriptome, phenotype (NKG2AhighCD16lowKLRG1highTIGIThigh) and functional analysis in bone marrow and blood, supportive for an intermediate subset. Pseudotime analysis positioned CD56bright, CD56dimGzmK+ and CD56dimGzmK- cells in one differentiation trajectory, while ltNK cells were developmentally separated. Integrative analysis with bone marrow cells from the Human Cell Atlas did not demonstrate a developmental connection between CD34+ progenitor and NK cells, suggesting absence of early NK cell stages in bone marrow. In conclusion, single-cell transcriptomics provide new insights on development and differentiation of human NK cells.
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