Single-Cell Transcriptomic Profiling of Human Dental Pulp in Sound and Carious Teeth: A Pilot Study

We present a collection of single-cell transcriptomic profiles of 6,810 pulpal cells isolated from a sound human maxillary third molars and carious teeth at different stages. We showed that the presence of deep, but not enamel caries, altered the immune cell compositions of the dental pulp. Differential expression analysis further revealed that the pro-inflammatory, anti-inflammatory and mineralization-related genes were upregulated in immune and stromal cells in deep dental caries. Cell-cell interaction prediction showed potential interactions between immune and stromal cells during homeostasis, and enhanced interactions between different cell types with macrophage during deep dental caries. Taken together, our study serves as a comprehensive survey of human pulpal cell heterogeneity, as well as provides novel molecular insights into dental pulps in health and disease. Overall design: The single-cell transcriptomic profiles from cells residing in dental pulp from a sound tooth, enamel caries and deep dental caries were compared. Cell type frequency and differential gene expression were analyzed. Cell-cell interactions were predicted from the expression level of ligands and receptors.