SLAMF7 engagement superactivates macrophages in acute and chronic inflammation

• Main Authors: Blazar, P. (Author), Brenner, M.B (Author), Chen, A.F (Author), Coblyn, J.S (Author), Dyer, G.S (Author), Earp, B.E (Author), Gomez-Rivas, E. (Author), Jeong, Y. (Author), Jonsson, A.H (Author), Kim, E.Y (Author), Lange, J.K (Author), Massarotti, E.M (Author), Nguyen, H.N (Author), Rao, D.A (Author), Simmons, D.P (Author), Sparks, J.A (Author), Todd, D.J (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2022
• Subjects: acute disease; Acute Disease; adult; Adult; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; cell culture; Cells, Cultured; chronic disease; Chronic Disease; COVID-19; Crohn disease; Crohn Disease; female; Female; genetics; human; Humans; immunology; inflammation; Inflammation; macrophage activation; Macrophage Activation; metabolism; pathology; physiology; procedures; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; rheumatoid arthritis; RNA-Seq; SARS-CoV-2; signaling lymphocytic activation molecule; Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family; single cell analysis; Single-Cell Analysis; SLAMF7 protein, human; Synovial Membrane; synovium; transcriptome; Transcriptome; virology
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Macrophages regulate protective immune responses to infectious microbes, but aberrant macrophage activation frequently drives pathological inflammation. To identify regulators of vigorous macrophage activation, we analyzed RNA-seq data from synovial macrophages and identified SLAMF7 as a receptor associated with a superactivated macrophage state in rheumatoid arthritis. We implicated IFN- as a key regulator of SLAMF7 expression and engaging SLAMF7 drove a strong wave of inflammatory cytokine expression. Induction of TNF- after SLAMF7 engagement amplified inflammation through an autocrine signaling loop. We observed SLAMF7-induced gene programs not only in macrophages from rheumatoid arthritis patients but also in gut macrophages from patients with active Crohn’s disease and in lung macrophages from patients with severe COVID-19. This suggests a central role for SLAMF7 in macrophage superactivation with broad implications in human disease pathology. © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works