Landscape of intercellular crosstalk in healthy and NASH liver revealed by single-cell secretome gene analysis

By X. Xiong, Henry Kuang, S. Ansari, Tongyu Liu, Jianke Gong, Shuai Wang, Xu-Yun Zhao, Yewei Ji, Chuan Li, Liang Guo and 20 more. Molecules and Cells, 2019

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Summary Cell-cell communication via ligand-receptor signaling is a fundamental feature of complex organs. Despite this, the global landscape of intercellular signaling in mammalian liver has not been elucidated. Here we perform single-cell RNA sequencing on non-parenchymal cells isolated from healthy and NASH mouse livers. Secretome gene analysis revealed a highly connected network of intrahepatic signaling and disruption of vascular signaling in NASH. We uncovered the emergence of NASH-associated macrophages (NAM), which are marked by high expression of Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (Trem2), as a feature of mouse and human NASH that is linked to disease severity and highly responsive to pharmacological and dietary interventions. Finally, hepatic stellate cells (HSC) serve as a hub of intrahepatic signaling via HSC-derived stellakines and their responsiveness to vasoactive hormones. These results provide unprecedented insights into the landscape of intercellular crosstalk and reprogramming of liver cells in health and disease.

Subfields: Hepatology, Immunology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/531ff86a20360de6d2f7e6ec9d4ff05450ba173a