High-plex protein and whole transcriptome co-mapping at cellular resolution with spatial CITE-seq

We present spatial-CITE-seq for high-plex protein and whole transcriptome co-mapping, which was firstly demonstrated for profiling 189 proteins and transcriptome in multiple mouse tissue types. It was then applied to human tissues to measure 273 proteins and transcriptome that revealed spatially distinct germinal center reaction in tonsil and early immune activation in skin at the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine injection site. Spatial-CITE-seq may find a range of applications in biomedical research. Spatial profiling of RNA and protein using microfluidic based device.本研究提出空间CITE-seq（spatial-CITE-seq）技术，可实现高多重通量（high-plex）蛋白质与全转录组（whole transcriptome）的共图谱分析。该技术首先在多种小鼠组织类型中完成了189种蛋白质与转录组的表征分析；后续将其应用于人体组织，完成了273种蛋白质与转录组的检测，揭示了扁桃体中具有空间特异性的生发中心反应（germinal center reaction），以及新冠mRNA疫苗接种部位皮肤组织内的早期免疫激活特征。空间CITE-seq有望在生物医学研究中拥有广泛应用场景。该技术依托微流控设备实现RNA与蛋白质的空间谱分析。