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  • Subsets of ILC3-ILC1-like c...
    Cella, Marina; Gamini, Ramya; Sécca, Cristiane; Collins, Patrick L; Zhao, Shanrong; Peng, Vincent; Robinette, Michelle L; Schettini, Jorge; Zaitsev, Konstantin; Gordon, William; Bando, Jennifer K; Yomogida, Kentaro; Cortez, Victor; Fronick, Catrina; Fulton, Robert; Lin, Lih-Ling; Gilfillan, Susan; Flavell, Richard A; Shan, Liang; Artyomov, Maxim N; Bowman, Michael; Oltz, Eugene M; Jelinsky, Scott A; Colonna, Marco

    Nature immunology, 08/2019, Volume: 20, Issue: 8
    Journal Article

    Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are tissue-resident lymphocytes categorized on the basis of their core regulatory programs and the expression of signature cytokines. Human ILC3s that produce the cytokine interleukin-22 convert into ILC1-like cells that produce interferon-γ in vitro, but whether this conversion occurs in vivo remains unclear. In the present study we found that ILC3s and ILC1s in human tonsils represented the ends of a spectrum that included additional discrete subsets. RNA velocity analysis identified an intermediate ILC3-ILC1 cluster, which had strong directionality toward ILC1s. In humanized mice, the acquisition of ILC1 features by ILC3s showed tissue dependency. Chromatin studies indicated that the transcription factors Aiolos and T-bet cooperated to repress regulatory elements active in ILC3s. A transitional ILC3-ILC1 population was also detected in the human intestine. We conclude that ILC3s undergo conversion into ILC1-like cells in human tissues in vivo, and that tissue factors and Aiolos were required for this process.