A single cell atlas of the peripheral immune response in patients with IgA nephropathy

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22909
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0902:General internal medicine and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Kirita Yuhei 京都府立医科大学, 医学部附属病院, 専攻医 (30783097)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: IgA腎症 / シングルセルシーケンス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we planned to discover new therapeutic targets and factors that determine the severity and response to treatment for IgA nephropathy by comprehensively analyzing gene expression profile of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of IgA nephropathy patients using single-cell RNA sequencing. Firstly, we obtained the gene expression matrices by 10X Chromium system and the next-generation sequencer, then analyzed the data mainly using statistical software R. We could identify over 20 cell types including not only major cell types i.e. B cells, T cells, monocytes, dendritic cells, but also rare cell types i.e. hematopoietic stem cells. We are collecting more cases to create the comprehensive cell atlas.

Free Research Field

腎臓内科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では世界で初めてIgA腎症患者の末梢血免疫細胞の単一細胞レベルでの遺伝子発現を網羅的に解析した。ただし本研究で得られるデータベースは今後のさらなる研究の基盤となり，新たな治療法開発の礎になると考えられる。