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A biliary immune landscape map of primary sclerosing cholangitis reveals a dominant network of neutrophils and tissue-resident T cells.

Christine L ZimmerErik von SethMarcus BuggertOtto StraussLaura HertwigSon NguyenAlicia Yoke Wei WongChiara ZotterLena BerglinJakob MichaëlssonMarcus Reuterwall HanssonUrban ArneloErnesto SparrelidEwa C S EllisJohan D SöderholmÅsa V KeitaKristian HolmVolkan ÖzenciJohannes Roksund HovJeff E MoldMartin Cornillet JeanninAndrea PonzettaAnnika BergquistNiklas K Björkström
Published in: Science translational medicine (2021)
The human biliary system, a mucosal barrier tissue connecting the liver and intestine, is an organ often affected by serious inflammatory and malignant diseases. Although these diseases are linked to immunological processes, the biliary system represents an unexplored immunological niche. By combining endoscopy-guided sampling of the biliary tree with a high-dimensional analysis approach, comprehensive mapping of the human biliary immunological landscape in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a severe biliary inflammatory disease, was conducted. Major differences in immune cell composition in bile ducts compared to blood were revealed. Furthermore, biliary inflammation in patients with PSC was characterized by high presence of neutrophils and T cells as compared to control individuals without PSC. The biliary T cells displayed a CD103+CD69+ effector memory phenotype, a combined gut and liver homing profile, and produced interleukin-17 (IL-17) and IL-22. Biliary neutrophil infiltration in PSC associated with CXCL8, possibly produced by resident T cells, and CXCL16 was linked to the enrichment of T cells. This study uncovers the immunological niche of human bile ducts, defines a local immune network between neutrophils and biliary-resident T cells in PSC, and provides a resource for future studies of the immune responses in biliary disorders.
Keyphrases
  • endothelial cells
  • immune response
  • oxidative stress
  • inflammatory response
  • mass spectrometry
  • working memory
  • single cell
  • dendritic cells
  • high density
  • small bowel