Nature Communications (Jun 2024)
Single-cell multi-ome and immune profiles of the Inspiration4 crew reveal conserved, cell-type, and sex-specific responses to spaceflight
- JangKeun Kim,
- Braden T. Tierney,
- Eliah G. Overbey,
- Ezequiel Dantas,
- Matias Fuentealba,
- Jiwoon Park,
- S. Anand Narayanan,
- Fei Wu,
- Deena Najjar,
- Christopher R. Chin,
- Cem Meydan,
- Conor Loy,
- Begum Mathyk,
- Remi Klotz,
- Veronica Ortiz,
- Khiem Nguyen,
- Krista A. Ryon,
- Namita Damle,
- Nadia Houerbi,
- Laura I. Patras,
- Nathan Schanzer,
- Gwyneth A. Hutchinson,
- Jonathan Foox,
- Chandrima Bhattacharya,
- Matthew Mackay,
- Evan E. Afshin,
- Jeremy Wain Hirschberg,
- Ashley S. Kleinman,
- Julian C. Schmidt,
- Caleb M. Schmidt,
- Michael A. Schmidt,
- Afshin Beheshti,
- Irina Matei,
- David Lyden,
- Sean Mullane,
- Amran Asadi,
- Joan S. Lenz,
- Omary Mzava,
- Min Yu,
- Saravanan Ganesan,
- Iwijn De Vlaminck,
- Ari M. Melnick,
- Darko Barisic,
- Daniel A. Winer,
- Sara R. Zwart,
- Brian E. Crucian,
- Scott M. Smith,
- Jaime Mateus,
- David Furman,
- Christopher E. Mason
Affiliations
- JangKeun Kim
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Braden T. Tierney
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Eliah G. Overbey
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Ezequiel Dantas
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Matias Fuentealba
- Buck Artificial Intelligence Platform, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
- Jiwoon Park
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- S. Anand Narayanan
- Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences, Florida State University
- Fei Wu
- Buck Artificial Intelligence Platform, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
- Deena Najjar
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Christopher R. Chin
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Cem Meydan
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Conor Loy
- Cornell University, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering
- Begum Mathyk
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine
- Remi Klotz
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
- Veronica Ortiz
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
- Khiem Nguyen
- Buck Artificial Intelligence Platform, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
- Krista A. Ryon
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Namita Damle
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Nadia Houerbi
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Laura I. Patras
- Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation Laboratories, Departments of Pediatrics, and Cell and Developmental Biology, Drukier Institute for Children’s Health, Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Nathan Schanzer
- School of Medicine, New York Medical College
- Gwyneth A. Hutchinson
- NASA Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES)
- Jonathan Foox
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Chandrima Bhattacharya
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Matthew Mackay
- Tri-Institutional Biology and Medicine Program, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Evan E. Afshin
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Jeremy Wain Hirschberg
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Ashley S. Kleinman
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Julian C. Schmidt
- Sovaris Aerospace
- Caleb M. Schmidt
- Sovaris Aerospace
- Michael A. Schmidt
- Sovaris Aerospace
- Afshin Beheshti
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
- Irina Matei
- Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
- David Lyden
- Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Sean Mullane
- Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
- Amran Asadi
- Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
- Joan S. Lenz
- Cornell University, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering
- Omary Mzava
- Cornell University, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering
- Min Yu
- Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
- Saravanan Ganesan
- Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Iwijn De Vlaminck
- Cornell University, Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering
- Ari M. Melnick
- Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Darko Barisic
- Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Daniel A. Winer
- Buck Artificial Intelligence Platform, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
- Sara R. Zwart
- University of Texas Medical Branch
- Brian E. Crucian
- Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate
- Scott M. Smith
- Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Human Health and Performance Directorate
- Jaime Mateus
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center
- David Furman
- Buck Artificial Intelligence Platform, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
- Christopher E. Mason
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49211-2
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 15,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 18
Abstract
Abstract Spaceflight induces an immune response in astronauts. To better characterize this effect, we generated single-cell, multi-ome, cell-free RNA (cfRNA), biochemical, and hematology data for the SpaceX Inspiration4 (I4) mission crew. We found that 18 cytokines/chemokines related to inflammation, aging, and muscle homeostasis changed after spaceflight. In I4 single-cell multi-omics data, we identified a “spaceflight signature” of gene expression characterized by enrichment in oxidative phosphorylation, UV response, immune function, and TCF21 pathways. We confirmed the presence of this signature in independent datasets, including the NASA Twins Study, the I4 skin spatial transcriptomics, and 817 NASA GeneLab mouse transcriptomes. Finally, we observed that (1) T cells showed an up-regulation of FOXP3, (2) MHC class I genes exhibited long-term suppression, and (3) infection-related immune pathways were associated with microbiome shifts. In summary, this study reveals conserved and distinct immune disruptions occurring and details a roadmap for potential countermeasures to preserve astronaut health.
