The introduction of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into the human population represents a tremendous medical and economic crisis. Innate immunity—as the first line of ...defense of our immune system—plays a central role in combating this novel virus. Here, we provide a conceptual framework for the interaction of the human innate immune system with SARS-CoV-2 to link the clinical observations with experimental findings that have been made during the first year of the pandemic. We review evidence that variability in innate immune system components among humans is a main contributor to the heterogeneous disease courses observed for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease spectrum induced by SARS-CoV-2. A better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms observed for cells and soluble mediators involved in innate immunity is a prerequisite for the development of diagnostic markers and therapeutic strategies targeting COVID-19. However, this will also require additional studies addressing causality of events, which so far are lagging behind.
Differences in innate immune system function may underpin the curiously variable disease spectrum of COVID-19.
Monocytes and Macrophages in COVID-19 Knoll, Rainer; Schultze, Joachim L.; Schulte-Schrepping, Jonas
Frontiers in immunology,
07/2021, Letnik:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
COVID-19 is a contagious viral disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 that led to an ongoing pandemic with massive global health and socioeconomic consequences. The disease is characterized primarily, but not ...exclusively, by respiratory clinical manifestations ranging from mild common cold symptoms, including cough and fever, to severe respiratory distress and multi-organ failure. Macrophages, a heterogeneous group of yolk-sac derived, tissue-resident mononuclear phagocytes of complex ontogeny present in all mammalian organs, play critical roles in developmental, homeostatic and host defense processes with tissue-dependent plasticity. In case of infection, they are responsible for early pathogen recognition, initiation and resolution of inflammation, as well as repair of tissue damage. Monocytes, bone-marrow derived blood-resident phagocytes, are recruited under pathological conditions such as viral infections to the affected tissue to defend the organism against invading pathogens and to aid in efficient resolution of inflammation. Given their pivotal function in host defense and the potential danger posed by their dysregulated hyperinflammation, understanding monocyte and macrophage phenotypes in COVID-19 is key for tackling the disease’s pathological mechanisms. Here, we outline current knowledge on monocytes and macrophages in homeostasis and viral infections and summarize concepts and key findings on their role in COVID-19. While monocytes in the blood of patients with moderate COVID-19 present with an inflammatory, interferon-stimulated gene (ISG)-driven phenotype, cellular dysfunction epitomized by loss of HLA-DR expression and induction of S100 alarmin expression is their dominant feature in severe disease. Pulmonary macrophages in COVID-19 derived from infiltrating inflammatory monocytes are in a hyperactivated state resulting in a detrimental loop of pro-inflammatory cytokine release and recruitment of cytotoxic effector cells thereby exacerbating tissue damage at the site of infection.
Description of macrophage activation is currently contentious and confusing. Like the biblical Tower of Babel, macrophage activation encompasses a panoply of descriptors used in different ways. The ...lack of consensus on how to define macrophage activation in experiments in vitro and in vivo impedes progress in multiple ways, including the fact that many researchers still consider there to be only two types of activated macrophages, often termed M1 and M2. Here, we describe a set of standards encompassing three principles—the source of macrophages, definition of the activators, and a consensus collection of markers to describe macrophage activation—with the goal of unifying experimental standards for diverse experimental scenarios. Collectively, we propose a common framework for macrophage-activation nomenclature.
The description of macrophage activation status is contentious and confusing. Murray et al. propose a framework for macrophage-activation nomenclature.
Myelopoiesis ensures the steady state of the myeloid cell compartment. Technological advances in fate mapping and genetic engineering, as well as the advent of single cell RNA-sequencing, have ...highlighted the heterogeneity of the hematopoietic system and revealed new concepts in myeloid cell ontogeny. These technologies are also shedding light on mechanisms of myelopoiesis at homeostasis and at different phases of infection and inflammation, illustrating important feedback loops between affected tissues and the bone marrow. We review these findings here and revisit principles in myelopoiesis in light of the evolving understanding of myeloid cell ontogeny and heterogeneity. We argue for the importance of system-wide evaluation of changes in myelopoiesis and discuss how even after the resolution of inflammation, long-lasting alterations in myelopoiesis may play a role in innate immune memory or trained immunity.
Schultze, Mass, and Schlitzer discuss recent findings on myelopoiesis in homeostasis and disease in light of the evolving understanding of myeloid cell ontogeny and heterogeneity. They argue for the importance of an integrated approach toward examining the mechanisms of myelopoiesis and its contribution to the immune response.
Immunological memory is an important evolutionary trait that improves host survival upon reinfection. Memory is a characteristic recognized within both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune ...system. Although the mechanisms and properties through which innate and adaptive immune memory are induced are distinct, they collude to improve host defense to pathogens. Here, we propose that innate immune memory, or “trained immunity,” is a primitive form of adaptation in host defense, resulting from chromatin structure rearrangement, which provides an increased but non-specific response to reinfection. In contrast, adaptive immune memory is more advanced, with increased magnitude of response mediated through epigenetic changes, as well as specificity mediated by gene recombination. An integrative model of immune memory is important for broad understanding of host defense, and for identifying the most effective approaches to modulate it for the benefit of patients with infections and immune-mediated diseases.
In this Perspective, Netea et al. examine the distinct factors involved in innate immune memory (also termed trained immunity) and in the more advanced and specific adaptive immune memory. The authors then propose an integrative model of immune memory for a better understanding of the host defense system.
Macrophage activation is associated with profound transcriptional reprogramming. Although much progress has been made in the understanding of macrophage activation, polarization, and function, the ...transcriptional programs regulating these processes remain poorly characterized. We stimulated human macrophages with diverse activation signals, acquiring a data set of 299 macrophage transcriptomes. Analysis of this data set revealed a spectrum of macrophage activation states extending the current M1 versus M2-polarization model. Network analyses identified central transcriptional regulators associated with all macrophage activation complemented by regulators related to stimulus-specific programs. Applying these transcriptional programs to human alveolar macrophages from smokers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) revealed an unexpected loss of inflammatory signatures in COPD patients. Finally, by integrating murine data from the ImmGen project we propose a refined, activation-independent core signature for human and murine macrophages. This resource serves as a framework for future research into regulation of macrophage activation in health and disease.
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•Macrophages react with specific transcriptional programming upon distinct signals•Activation by TNF, PGE2, and P3C activates a STAT4-associated transcriptional program•NFKB1, JUNB, and CREB1 are central transcription factors of macrophage activation•Inflammatory signatures are lost in alveolar macrophages from COPD patients
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is the method of choice when large numbers of sequences have to be obtained. While the technique is widely applied, varying error rates have been observed. We ...analysed millions of reads obtained after sequencing of one single sequence on an Illumina sequencer. According to our analysis, the index-PCR for sample preparation has no effect on the observed error rate, even though PCR is traditionally seen as one of the major contributors to enhanced error rates in NGS. In addition, we observed very persistent pre-phasing effects although the base calling software corrects for these. Removal of shortened sequences abolished these effects and allowed analysis of the actual mutations. The average error rate determined was 0.24 ± 0.06% per base and the percentage of mutated sequences was found to be 6.4 ± 1.24%. Constant regions at the 5'- and 3'-end, e.g., primer binding sites used in in vitro selection procedures seem to have no effect on mutation rates and re-sequencing of samples obtains very reproducible results. As phasing effects and other sequencing problems vary between equipment and individual setups, we recommend evaluation of error rates and types to all NGS-users to improve the quality and analysis of NGS data.
Human monocytes are divided in three major populations; classical (CD14
CD16
), non-classical (CD14
CD16
), and intermediate (CD14
CD16
). Each of these subsets is distinguished from each other by ...the expression of distinct surface markers and by their functions in homeostasis and disease. In this review, we discuss the most up-to-date phenotypic classification of human monocytes that has been greatly aided by the application of novel single-cell transcriptomic and mass cytometry technologies. Furthermore, we shed light on the role of these plastic immune cells in already recognized and emerging human chronic diseases, such as obesity, atherosclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung fibrosis, lung cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Our aim is to provide an insight into the contribution of human monocytes to the progression of these diseases and highlight their candidacy as potential therapeutic cell targets.
The Myeloid Cell Compartment-Cell by Cell Bassler, Kevin; Schulte-Schrepping, Jonas; Warnat-Herresthal, Stefanie ...
Annual review of immunology,
04/2019, Letnik:
37, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Myeloid cells are a major cellular compartment of the immune system comprising monocytes, dendritic cells, tissue macrophages, and granulocytes. Models of cellular ontogeny, activation, ...differentiation, and tissue-specific functions of myeloid cells have been revisited during the last years with surprising results; for example, most tissue macrophages are yolk sac derived, monocytes and macrophages follow a multidimensional model of activation, and tissue signals have a significant impact on the functionality of all these cells. While these exciting results have brought these cells back to center stage, their enormous plasticity and heterogeneity, during both homeostasis and disease, are far from understood. At the same time, the ongoing revolution in single-cell genomics, with single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) leading the way, promises to change this. Prevailing models of hematopoiesis with distinct intermediates are challenged by scRNA-seq data suggesting more continuous developmental trajectories in the myeloid cell compartment. Cell subset structures previously defined by protein marker expression need to be revised based on unbiased analyses of scRNA-seq data. Particularly in inflammatory conditions, myeloid cells exhibit substantially vaster heterogeneity than previously anticipated, and work performed within large international projects, such as the Human Cell Atlas, has already revealed novel tissue macrophage subsets. Based on these exciting developments, we propose the next steps to a full understanding of the myeloid cell compartment in health and diseases.
Tissue-resident macrophages support embryonic development and tissue homeostasis and repair. The mechanisms that control their differentiation remain unclear. We report here that erythro-myeloid ...progenitors in mice generate premacrophages (pMacs) that simultaneously colonize the whole embryo from embryonic day 9.5 in a chemokine-receptor-dependent manner. The core macrophage program initiated in pMacs is rapidly diversified as expression of transcriptional regulators becomes tissue-specific in early macrophages. This process appears essential for macrophage specification and maintenance, as inactivation of Id3 impairs the development of liver macrophages and results in selective Kupffer cell deficiency in adults. We propose that macrophage differentiation is an integral part of organogenesis, as colonization of organ anlagen by pMacs is followed by their specification into tissue macrophages, hereby generating the macrophage diversity observed in postnatal tissues.