SLAMF7 engagement superactivates macrophages in acute and chronic inflammation.

Abstract

Macrophages regulate protective immune responses to infectious microbes, but aberrant macrophage activation frequently drives pathological inflammation. To identify regulators of vigorous macrophage activation, we analyzed RNA-seq data from synovial macrophages and identified SLAMF7 as a receptor associated with a superactivated macrophage state in rheumatoid arthritis. We implicated IFN-γ as a key regulator of SLAMF7 expression and engaging SLAMF7 drove a strong wave of inflammatory cytokine expression. Induction of TNF-α after SLAMF7 engagement amplified inflammation through an autocrine signaling loop. We observed SLAMF7-induced gene programs not only in macrophages from rheumatoid arthritis patients but also in gut macrophages from patients with active Crohn's disease and in lung macrophages from patients with severe COVID-19. This suggests a central role for SLAMF7 in macrophage superactivation with broad implications in human disease pathology.

• Authors: Daimon P Simmons, Hung N Nguyen, Emma Gomez-Rivas, Yunju Jeong, A Helena Jonsson, Antonia F Chen, Jeffrey K Lange, George S Dyer, Philip Blazar, Brandon E Earp, Jonathan S Coblyn, Elena M Massarotti, Jeffrey A Sparks, Derrick J Todd, Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) RA/SLE Network, Deepak A Rao, Edy Y Kim, Michael B Brenner
• Journal: Science immunology (Sci Immunol) Vol. 7 Issue 68 Pg. eabf2846 (02 11 2022) ISSN: 2470-9468 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 35148199 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)

Chemical References

• SLAMF7 protein, human
• Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family

Topics

• Acute Disease
• Adult
• Arthritis, Rheumatoid (genetics, immunology, metabolism)
• COVID-19 (genetics, immunology, metabolism, virology)
• Cells, Cultured
• Chronic Disease
• Crohn Disease (genetics, immunology, metabolism)
• Female
• Humans
• Inflammation (genetics, immunology, metabolism)
• Macrophage Activation (genetics, immunology)
• RNA-Seq (methods)
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (methods)
• SARS-CoV-2 (immunology, physiology)
• Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family (genetics, immunology, metabolism)
• Single-Cell Analysis (methods)
• Synovial Membrane (immunology, metabolism, pathology)
• Transcriptome (genetics, immunology)