Immune cell profiling of preeclamptic pregnant and postpartum women by single-cell RNA sequencing

Preeclampsia (PE) is characterized by sustained hypertension and proteinuria at a gestational age of 20 weeks or more. Immune system alterations are associated with the origin and the pathophysiology of preeclampsia, however, little is known about the landscape and heterogeneity of maternal immune system at the single-cell level. In this study, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of 80,429 cells in PE patients and health controls, including T cells, B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, myeloid cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells to characterize the immune cell subgroups at the pregnant and postpartum stages of PE. Our work showed that there was excessive activation of B cells, monocytes and NK cells in PE patients at the pregnant stage. Additionally, lower immune response activation was noticed in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in PEs, especially the low-activation of memory T cells at the pregnant and postpartum stages. Moreover, there was a higher activation of B cells in pregnancy persisted postpartum in PEs, together with lower activation of memory T cells. These indicated their persistent effects on PE and its recurrence risks. Overall design: Single-cell RNA sequencing of 80,429 cells in PE patients and health controls, including T cells, B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, myeloid cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells to characterize the immune cell subgroups at the pregnant and postpartum stages of PE.

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