Human and Mouse Transcriptome Profiling Identifies Cross-Species Homology in Pulmonary and Lymph Node Mononuclear Phagocytes
Sonia M. Leach,
Sophie L. Gibbings,
Anita D. Tewari,
Shaikh M. Atif,
Brian Vestal,
Thomas Danhorn,
William J. Janssen,
Tor D. Wager,
Claudia V. Jakubzick
Affiliations
Sonia M. Leach
Center for Genes, Environment, and Health, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA; Department of Biomedical Research, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA
Sophie L. Gibbings
Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA
Anita D. Tewari
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03756, USA
Shaikh M. Atif
Department of Medicine, Division of Asthma, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80045, USA
Brian Vestal
Center for Genes, Environment, and Health, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA; Department of Biomedical Research, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA
Thomas Danhorn
Center for Genes, Environment, and Health, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA
William J. Janssen
Department of Medicine, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA; Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80045, USA
Tor D. Wager
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Claudia V. Jakubzick
Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO 80206, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03756, USA; Department of Immunology, University of Colorado, Denver Anschutz Campus, Denver, CO 80045, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: The mononuclear phagocyte (MP) system consists of macrophages, monocytes, and dendritic cells (DCs). MP subtypes play distinct functional roles in steady-state and inflammatory conditions. Although murine MPs are well characterized, their pulmonary and lymph node (LN) human homologs remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we have created a gene expression compendium across 24 distinct human and murine lung and LN MPs, along with human blood and murine spleen MPs, to serve as validation datasets. In-depth RNA sequencing identifies corresponding human-mouse MP subtypes and determines marker genes shared and divergent across species. Unexpectedly, only 13%–23% of the top 1,000 marker genes (i.e., genes not shared across species-specific MP subtypes) overlap in corresponding human-mouse MP counterparts. Lastly, CD88 in both species helps distinguish monocytes/macrophages from DCs. Our cross-species expression compendium serves as a resource for future translational studies to investigate beforehand whether pursuing specific MP subtypes or genes will prove fruitful.
