Nature reveals 'big role' of human structural cells in immune regulation

Of course, immune function is not limited to these "experts", there are many more types of cells that can sense when they are infected and participate in the immune response against pathogensThis is how structural cells existIt is an important part of the human body and plays an important role in shaping the structure of tissues and organsFor example, epithelial cells form the surface of the skin and separate the tissues and organs from each other; endothelial cells wrap all blood vessels; and fibroblasts provide connective tissue that keeps tissues and organs in shapeStructural cells have been "low-key" and are considered simple and uninteresting components of the human bodyBut it cannot be underestimated, it plays an important role in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as cancerThomas Krausgruber, Nikolaus Fortelny and colleagues from the Christoph Bock Laboratory of the Centre for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences tried to get into the low-key but high-profile "big man." In their latest study, they illustrated the role of structural cells in immune regulation through systematic, genome-wide analysis of epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of human structural cellsThe findings were published in the journal Naturespecifically, CeMM researchers used high-throughput sequencing techniques (RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, ChIPmentation) to sequence three structural cells (epithelial, endothelial, fibroblasts) in 12 organs of healthy mice to create a comprehensive catalog of structural cell immune gene activityThis data set reveals the widespread expression of immune genes in structural cells, as well as the high cell type specificity and organ specificity of gene regulation patternsBioinformatics analysis detects genes that control the complex networks of interactions between structural cells and hematopoietic immune cells, and reveals the potential mechanism by which structural cells are involved in the response to pathogensinteresting, many immune genes exhibit epigenetic characteristics that are usually associated with high gene expression, while the expression observed in structural cells obtained from healthy mice is lower than expected based on epigenetic characteristicsAs a result, the CeMM researchers hypothesized that these genes were preprogrammed in epigenetics and that their activity increased quickly when needed, such as in response to pathogensTo test this hypothesis, they used their expertise in virology and infection biology to work with CeMM's Andreas Bergthaler LaboratoryUnsurprisingly, when mice were infected with a virus (LCMV) that triggered a broad immune response, many epigenetically ready-to-activate genes were raised and promoted transcription changes in the response of structural cells to viral infectionsThese results show that structural cells achieve an "epigenetic potential" that can be pre-programmed to participate in rapid immune responsesAs another validation, the researchers triggered an artificial immune response by injecting cytokines into mice, and did find that many of the same genes were raised In summary, the new study found the alarming complexity of immune gene regulation in structural cells These results show that structural cells are not only an essential part of the human body, but also play a wide range of roles in the body's resistance to pathogens In addition, the data provided help develop innovative treatments for many diseases affecting the immune system References: s1 Smart Structures: Structure cells of the body control immune function.