Wang Qunhui, Guo Xian, Huo Bo, Feng Xin, Fang Ze-Min, Jiang Ding-Sheng, Wei Xiang
Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Tongji Medical College, Tongji Hospital, Sino-Swiss Heart-Lung Transplantation Institute, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Ministry of Education, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Apr 7;9:846421. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.846421. eCollection 2022.
Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a life-threatening cardiovascular disease whose formation is reported to be associated with massive vascular inflammatory responses. To elucidate the roles of immune cell infiltration in the pathogenesis underlying TAA, we utilized multiple TAA datasets (microarray data and scRNA-seq data) and various immune-related algorithms (ssGSEA, CIBERSORT, and Seurat) to reveal the landscapes of the immune microenvironment in TAA. The results exhibited a significant increase in the infiltration of macrophages and T cells, which were mainly responsible for TAA formation among the immune cells. To further reveal the roles of immunocytes in TAA, we inferred the intercellular communications among the identified cells of aortic tissues. Notably, we found that in both normal aortic tissue and TAA tissue, the cells that interact most frequently are macrophages, endothelial cells (ECs), fibroblasts, and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Among the cells, macrophages were the most prominent signal senders and receivers in TAA and normal aortic tissue. These findings suggest that macrophages play an important role in both the physiological and pathological conditions of the aorta. The present study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the immune cell composition and reveals the intercellular communication among aortic cells in human TAA tissues. These findings improve our understanding of TAA formation and progression and facilitate the development of effective medications to treat these conditions.
胸主动脉瘤（TAA）是一种危及生命的心血管疾病，据报道其形成与大量血管炎症反应有关。为了阐明免疫细胞浸润在TAA发病机制中的作用，我们利用多个TAA数据集（微阵列数据和单细胞RNA测序数据）以及各种免疫相关算法（单样本基因集富集分析、CIBERSORT和Seurat）来揭示TAA中免疫微环境的格局。结果显示巨噬细胞和T细胞浸润显著增加，它们是免疫细胞中导致TAA形成的主要因素。为了进一步揭示免疫细胞在TAA中的作用，我们推断了主动脉组织中已鉴定细胞之间的细胞间通讯。值得注意的是，我们发现，在正常主动脉组织和TAA组织中，相互作用最频繁的细胞是巨噬细胞、内皮细胞（ECs）、成纤维细胞和血管平滑肌细胞（VSMCs）。在这些细胞中，巨噬细胞是TAA和正常主动脉组织中最主要的信号发送者和接收者。这些发现表明，巨噬细胞在主动脉的生理和病理状况中均发挥重要作用。本研究对免疫细胞组成进行了全面评估，并揭示了人类TAA组织中主动脉细胞之间的细胞间通讯。这些发现增进了我们对TAA形成和进展的理解，并有助于开发治疗这些病症的有效药物。
