iScience (Feb 2024)

A single cell atlas of circulating immune cells involved in diabetic retinopathy

  • Dan Liao,
  • Wei Fan,
  • Na Li,
  • Ruonan Li,
  • Xiaotang Wang,
  • Jiangyi Liu,
  • Hong Wang,
  • Shengping Hou

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 2
p. 109003

Abstract

Read online

Summary: This study focused on examining the exact role of circulating immune cells in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In vitro co-culture experiments showed that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with type 1 DR crucially modulated the biological functions of human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs), consequently disrupting their normal functionality. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) study revealed unique differentially expressed genes and pathways in circulating immune cells among healthy controls, non-diabetic retinopathy (NDR) patients, and DR patients. Of significance was the observed upregulation of JUND in each subset of PBMCs in patients with type 1 DR. Further studies showed that downregulating JUND in DR patient-derived PBMCs led to the amelioration of HRMEC dysfunction. These findings highlighted the notable alterations in the transcriptomic patterns of circulating immune cells in type 1 DR patients and underscored the significance of JUND as a key factor for PBMCs in participating in the pathogenesis of DR.

Keywords