IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v583y2020i7815d10.1038_s41586-020-2424-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structural cells are key regulators of organ-specific immune responses

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Krausgruber

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Nikolaus Fortelny

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Victoria Fife-Gernedl

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Martin Senekowitsch

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Linda C. Schuster

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
    German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Bioquant)

  • Alexander Lercher

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Amelie Nemc

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Christian Schmidl

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
    Regensburg Center for Interventional Immunology (RCI))

  • André F. Rendeiro

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Andreas Bergthaler

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

  • Christoph Bock

    (CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
    Medical University of Vienna)

Abstract

The mammalian immune system implements a remarkably effective set of mechanisms for fighting pathogens1. Its main components are haematopoietic immune cells, including myeloid cells that control innate immunity, and lymphoid cells that constitute adaptive immunity2. However, immune functions are not unique to haematopoietic cells, and many other cell types display basic mechanisms of pathogen defence3–5. To advance our understanding of immunology outside the haematopoietic system, here we systematically investigate the regulation of immune genes in the three major types of structural cells: epithelium, endothelium and fibroblasts. We characterize these cell types across twelve organs in mice, using cellular phenotyping, transcriptome sequencing, chromatin accessibility profiling and epigenome mapping. This comprehensive dataset revealed complex immune gene activity and regulation in structural cells. The observed patterns were highly organ-specific and seem to modulate the extensive interactions between structural cells and haematopoietic immune cells. Moreover, we identified an epigenetically encoded immune potential in structural cells under tissue homeostasis, which was triggered in response to systemic viral infection. This study highlights the prevalence and organ-specific complexity of immune gene activity in non-haematopoietic structural cells, and it provides a high-resolution, multi-omics atlas of the epigenetic and transcriptional networks that regulate structural cells in the mouse.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Krausgruber & Nikolaus Fortelny & Victoria Fife-Gernedl & Martin Senekowitsch & Linda C. Schuster & Alexander Lercher & Amelie Nemc & Christian Schmidl & André F. Rendeiro & Andreas Bergthaler , 2020. "Structural cells are key regulators of organ-specific immune responses," Nature, Nature, vol. 583(7815), pages 296-302, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:583:y:2020:i:7815:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2424-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2424-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2424-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-020-2424-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liang Zhang & Yao Jiang & Jinhang He & Junyu Chen & Ruoyao Qi & Lunzhi Yuan & Tiange Shao & Hui Zhao & Congjie Chen & Yaode Chen & Xijing Wang & Xing Lei & Qingxiang Gao & Chunlan Zhuang & Ming Zhou &, 2023. "Intranasal influenza-vectored COVID-19 vaccine restrains the SARS-CoV-2 inflammatory response in hamsters," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Robin Caire & Estelle Audoux & Mireille Thomas & Elisa Dalix & Aurélien Peyron & Killian Rodriguez & Nicola Pordone & Johann Guillemot & Yann Dickerscheit & Hubert Marotte & François Vandenesch & Fréd, 2022. "YAP promotes cell-autonomous immune responses to tackle intracellular Staphylococcus aureus in vitro," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Yanyu Xiao & Jingjing Wang & Jiaqi Li & Peijing Zhang & Jingyu Li & Yincong Zhou & Qing Zhou & Ming Chen & Xin Sheng & Zhihong Liu & Xiaoping Han & Guoji Guo, 2023. "An analytical framework for decoding cell type-specific genetic variation of gene regulation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Joern Pezoldt & Carolin Wiechers & Mangge Zou & Maria Litovchenko & Marjan Biocanin & Michael Beckstette & Katarzyna Sitnik & Martina Palatella & Guido Mierlo & Wanze Chen & Vincent Gardeux & Stefan F, 2022. "Postnatal expansion of mesenteric lymph node stromal cells towards reticular and CD34+ stromal cell subsets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:583:y:2020:i:7815:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2424-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.