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Updated: Jun 24, 2025
A Data-Driven Approach to Quantifying Immune States in Sepsis
Published on: February 7, 2025
Phenotypic Landscape of Immune Cells in Sepsis: Insights from High-Dimensional Mass Cytometry
Sehee Park1, Haribalan Perumalsamy2, Zayakhuu Gerelkhuu2
1Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea.
Insights
Mass cytometry reveals unique immune cell profiles in sepsis patients, identifying specific monocyte and B cell subsets. These findings offer potential new diagnostic markers for sepsis, aiding in understanding the immunological response.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Hematology
- Biotechnology
Background:
- Sepsis triggers complex immunological responses.
- Identifying immune cell phenotypic changes is crucial for understanding sepsis.
- Single-cell analysis offers detailed insights into immune cell alterations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize sepsis-induced phenotypic changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using mass cytometry.
- To identify novel immune cell subsets as potential diagnostic markers for sepsis.
Main Methods:
- Mass cytometry with 23 markers analyzed PBMCs from 20 sepsis patients and 10 healthy donors.
- Manual gating and automated clustering (PhenoGraph) were used for cell identification.
- Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) for dimensionality reduction and visualization.
Main Results:
- Sepsis patients showed distinct immune cell profiles: increased monocytes, B cells, dendritic cells; decreased NK and CD4/CD8 T cells.
- Significant distribution changes observed in monocytes, B cells, and CD4 T cells.
- PhenoGraph identified elevated CCR6 in a monocyte subset and novel sepsis-specific CD4 T and B cell subsets.
Conclusions:
- Mass cytometry effectively characterizes sepsis-induced immune cell phenotypic changes.
- Specific monocyte, CD4 T cell, and B cell subsets identified may serve as novel diagnostic markers for sepsis.
- Understanding these cellular changes enhances the comprehension of the sepsis immunological response.
Abstract:
Understanding the sepsis-induced immunological response can be facilitated by identifying phenotypic changes in immune cells at the single-cell level. Mass cytometry, a novel multiparametric single-cell analysis technique, offers considerable benefits in characterizing sepsis-induced phenotypic changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Here, we analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 20 sepsis patients and 10 healthy donors using mass cytometry and employing 23 markers. Both manual gating and automated clustering approaches (PhenoGraph) were used for cell identification, complemented by uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) for dimensionality reduction and visualization. Our study revealed that patients with sepsis exhibited a unique immune cell profile, marked by an increased presence of monocytes, B cells, and dendritic cells, alongside a reduction in natural killer (NK) cells and CD4/CD8 T cells. Notably, significant changes in the distributions of monocytes and B and CD4 T cells were observed. Clustering with PhenoGraph unveiled the subsets of each cell type and identified elevated CCR6 expression in sepsis patients' monocyte subset (PG#5), while further PhenoGraph clustering on manually gated T and B cells discovered sepsis-specific CD4 T cell subsets (CCR4low CD20low CD38low) and B cell subsets (HLA-DRlow CCR7low CCR6high), which could potentially serve as novel diagnostic markers for sepsis.
