Single-Cell RNA sequencing reveals blood immune features of gout remission patients with monosodium urate crystal deposition.

As a prominent feature of gout, monosodium urate (MSU) crystal deposition can induce gout flare, yet its impact on blood immune in gout remission patients still remains unclear. In this study, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is used to compare the gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) among intercritical gout remission patients, advanced gout remission patients and healthy volunteers. The increase of HLA-DQA1high classical monocytes, and their important role in immune inflammatory responses and osteoclast differentiation are discovered in advanced gout remission patients. Moreover, the differentiation level of CD8+T cells are found to elevate in advanced gout remission patients, which is further validated via flow cytometry. It is also observed that pathways related to bone metabolism and inflammatory responses are overactive in advanced gout remission patients. By analysis on intercellular communication network, immune-related cell-cell interactions among PBMCs are shown to enhance in both intercritical and advanced gout remission patients. The analyses on gene expression and LC-MS/MS together indicate the increased metabolic level of arachidonic acid in gout remission patients with MSU deposition at the intercritical and advanced stage. The study reveals distinctive blood immune characteristics in gout remission with MSU deposition, which provides more sights into its pathogenesis. Overall design: PBMCs from intercritical gout remission patients, advanced gout remission patients and healthy volunteers were subjected to scRNA-seq with 10x Genomics and validated by flow cytometry and LC-MS/MS.