德国弗莱堡大学Marco Prinz、马普学会免疫学和表观遗传学研究所Dominic Grün，以及柏林医科大学Josef Priller研究组合作，通过整合高维技术绘制人脑小胶质细胞状态图谱。该成果2019年11月18日在线发表在《自然—神经科学》上。

研究人员结合了两种高维技术，即单细胞RNA测序和飞行时间质谱分析技术，以鉴定稳态和疾病期间人脑中的小胶质细胞状态。这种方法使他们能够识别和表征人类小胶质细胞中转录状态的未曾了解的图谱。这些转录状态由它们的空间分布决定，并且它们随着衰老和脑肿瘤病理而进一步改变。人类中枢神经系统中多种小胶质细胞表型的描述，可能为子集特异性治疗干预开辟有希望的新途径。

研究人员表示，小胶质细胞是中枢神经系统的组织常驻巨噬细胞，可协调局部免疫反应并导致多种神经系统疾病和精神疾病。关于人类小胶质细胞及其在病理过程中如何协调其高度可塑性以及针对特定环境的适应性反应知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Mapping microglia states in the human brain through the integration of high-dimensional techniques

Author: Roman Sankowski, Chotima Bttcher, Takahiro Masuda, Laufey Geirsdottir, Sagar, Elena Sindram, Tamara Seredenina, Andreas Muhs, Christian Scheiwe, Mukesch Johannes Shah, Dieter Henrik Heiland, Oliver Schnell, Dominic Grn, Josef Priller, Marco Prinz

Issue&Volume: 2019-11-18

Abstract: Microglia are tissue-resident macrophages of the CNS that orchestrate local immune responses and contribute to several neurological and psychiatric diseases. Little is known about human microglia and how they orchestrate their highly plastic, context-specific adaptive responses during pathology. Here we combined two high-dimensional technologies, single-cell RNA-sequencing and time-of-flight mass cytometry, to identify microglia states in the human brain during homeostasis and disease. This approach enabled us to identify and characterize a previously unappreciated spectrum of transcriptional states in human microglia. These transcriptional states are determined by their spatial distribution, and they further change with aging and brain tumor pathology. This description of multiple microglia phenotypes in the human CNS may open promising new avenues for subset-specific therapeutic interventions.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0532-y

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-019-0532-y