单位:[1]Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol,Dept Integrated Tradit Chinese & Western Med,Tongji Hosp,Tongji Med Coll,Wuhan 430030,Peoples R China中医科中西医结合科华中科技大学同济医学院附属同济医院[2]Huazhong Univ Sci & Technol,Tongji Med Coll,Tongji Hosp,Dept Cardiol,Wuhan 430030,Peoples R China内科学系心血管内科华中科技大学同济医学院附属同济医院[3]Wuhan Biobank, Wuhan Inst Biotechnol, Wuhan 430000, Peoples R China
Interferon (IFN) signaling pathways play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Prior studies have mainly studied mixed alterations in the IFN signaling pathway in RA, but these studies have not been sufficient to elucidate how imbalanced IFN signaling subtly influences immune cells. Single-cell RNA (scRNA) sequencing makes it possible to better understand the alternations in the interferon signaling pathways in RA. In the present study, we found that IFN signaling pathways were activated in natural killer (NK) cells, monocytes, T cells, B cells, and most immune cell subclasses in RA. We then explored and analyzed the connections between abnormal IFN signaling pathways and cellular functional changes in RA. Single-Cell rEgulatory Network Inference and Clustering (SCENIC) analysis and gene regulatory network (GRN) construction were also performed to identify key transcription factors in RA. Finally, we also investigated altered IFN signaling pathways in multiple RA peripheral blood samples, which indicated that abnormal IFN signaling pathways were universally observed in RA. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the delicate and precise regulation of IFN signaling in the immune system in RA. Furthermore, common alternations in IFN signaling pathway-related transcription factors could help to identify novel therapeutic targets for RA treatment.
基金:
National Natural Science Foundation of China [81874383, 82074267]; Chinese Medicine Scientific Research Project of the Health Commission of Hubei Province [ZY2021Q024]