DOI: 10.1126/science.aah4573 ISSN:

Single-cell RNA-seq reveals new types of human blood dendritic cells, monocytes, and progenitors

Alexandra-Chloé Villani, Rahul Satija, Gary Reynolds, Siranush Sarkizova, Karthik Shekhar, James Fletcher, Morgane Griesbeck, Andrew Butler, Shiwei Zheng, Suzan Lazo, Laura Jardine, David Dixon, Emily Stephenson, Emil Nilsson, Ida Grundberg, David McDonald, Andrew Filby, Weibo Li, Philip L. De Jager, Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen, Andrew A. Lane, Muzlifah Haniffa, Aviv Regev, Nir Hacohen
  • Multidisciplinary

What's in a drop of blood?

Blood contains many types of cells, including many immune system components. Immune cells used to be characterized by marker-based assays, but now classification relies on the genes that cells express. Villani et al. used deep sequencing at the single-cell level and unbiased clustering to define six dendritic cell and four monocyte populations. This refined analysis has identified, among others, a previously unknown dendritic cell population that potently activates T cells. Further cell culture revealed possible differentiation progenitors within the different cell populations.

Science , this issue p. eaah4573

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