Single-cell RNA-seq reveals new types of human blood dendritic cells, monocytes, and progenitors

• Main Authors: Villani, Alexandra-Chloé (Author), Satija, Rahul (Author), Reynolds, Gary (Author), Sarkizova, Siranush (Author), Shekhar, Karthik (Author), Fletcher, James (Author), Griesbeck, Morgane (Author), Butler, Andrew (Author), Zheng, Shiwei (Author), Lazo, Suzan (Author), Jardine, Laura (Author), Dixon, David (Author), Stephenson, Emily (Author), Nilsson, Emil (Author), Grundberg, Ida (Author), McDonald, David (Author), Filby, Andrew (Author), Li, Weibo (Author), De Jager, Philip L. (Author), Rozenblatt-Rosen, Orit (Author), Lane, Andrew A. (Author), Haniffa, Muzlifah (Author), Regev, Aviv (Contributor), Hacohen, Nir (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology (Contributor), Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2018-07-05T14:56:01Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 Dendritic cells (DCs) and monocytes play a central role in pathogen sensing, phagocytosis, and antigen presentation and consist of multiple specialized subtypes. However, their identities and interrelationships are not fully understood. Using unbiased single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of ~2400 cells, we identified six human DCs and four monocyte subtypes in human blood. Our study reveals a new DC subset that shares properties with plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) but potently activates T cells, thus redefining pDCs; a new subdivision within the CD1C+ subset of DCs; the relationship between blastic plasmacytoid DC neoplasia cells and healthy DCs; and circulating progenitor of conventional DCs (cDCs). Our revised taxonomy will enable more accurate functional and developmental analyses as well as immune monitoring in health and disease.