Tuft cells and fibroblasts promote thymus regeneration through activation of a type-2 immune response [CITE-Seq]

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of dexamethasone-induced involution on the thymus cellular composition, and highlight cell populations which participate in the regeneration process. For this purpose we treated WT mice with dexamethasone, sorted non-T hematopoietic cells from their thymi 4 days after treatment when the thymus begins its recovery, or at an earlier time point (18 hours) for comparison, and performed CITE-Seq. Overall design: Young WT male mice were treated with dexamethasone 4 days/18 hours before sacrifice, then perfused and stained with CITE-Seq antibodies. Thymic hematopoietic cells excluding mature T cells were then isolated by FACS sorting for 10x single cell RNA sequencing. 2 replicates were used for each condition. The control was untreated age-matched WT mice.

本研究旨在探究地塞米松诱导的胸腺退化对胸腺细胞组成的影响，并明确参与胸腺再生过程的细胞群。为此，我们对地塞米松处理的野生型（Wild Type, WT）小鼠，在给药后胸腺开始恢复的第4天，或更早的18小时时间点，从其胸腺中分离非T细胞造血细胞以作对照比较，并开展CITE-Seq测序。总体实验设计如下：年轻野生型雄性小鼠在处死前4天或18小时接受地塞米松处理，随后进行灌流，并用CITE-Seq抗体进行染色。通过荧光激活细胞分选（Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting, FACS）分离去除成熟T细胞的胸腺造血细胞，用于10x单细胞RNA测序。每个实验条件均设置2次生物学重复，对照组为未经处理的同年龄野生型小鼠。