Single-cell transcriptomics delineates the immune cell landscape in equine lower airways and reveals upregulation of FKBP5 in horses with asthma.

Riihimäki M, Fegraeus K, Nordlund J, Waern I, Wernersson S, Akula S, Hellman L, Raine A

Sci Rep 13 (1) 16261 [2023-09-27; online 2023-09-27]

Equine asthma (EA) is a heterogenous, complex disease, with a significant negative impact on horse welfare and performance. EA and human asthma share fundamental similarities, making EA a useful model for studying the disease. One relevant sample type for investigating chronic lung inflammation is bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), which provides a snapshot of the immune cells present in the alveolar space. To investigate the immune cell landscape of the respiratory tract in horses with mild-to-moderate equine asthma (mEA) and healthy controls, single-cell RNA sequencing was conducted on equine BALF cells. We characterized the major immune cell populations present in equine BALF, as well as subtypes thereof. Interestingly, the most significantly upregulated gene discovered in cases of mEA was FKBP5, a chaperone protein involved in regulating the activity of the glucocorticoid receptor.

Bioinformatics Support for Computational Resources [Service]

NGI Short read [Collaborative]

NGI Single cell [Collaborative]

NGI Uppsala (SNP&SEQ Technology Platform) [Collaborative]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Collaborative]

PubMed 37758813

DOI 10.1038/s41598-023-43368-4

Crossref 10.1038/s41598-023-43368-4

pmc: PMC10533524
pii: 10.1038/s41598-023-43368-4