Cell atlas of the foetal human heart and implications for autoimmune-mediated congenital heart block

Hemant Suryawanshi, Robert Clancy, Pavel Morozov, Marc K. Halushka, Jill P. Buyon, Thomas Tuschl

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aims: Investigating human heart development and applying this to deviations resulting in disease is incomplete without molecular characterization of the cell types required for normal functioning. We investigated foetal human heart single-cell transcriptomes from mid-gestational healthy and anti-SSA/Ro associated congenital heart block (CHB) samples. Methods and results: Three healthy foetal human hearts (19th to 22nd week of gestation) and one foetal heart affected by autoimmune-associated CHB (21st week of gestation) were subjected to enzymatic dissociation using the Langendorff preparation to obtain single-cell suspensions followed by 10× Genomics- and Illumina-based single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). In addition to the myocytes, fibroblasts, immune cells, and other minor cell types, previously uncharacterized diverse sub-populations of endothelial cells were identified in the human heart. Differential gene expression analysis revealed increased and heterogeneous interferon responses in varied cell types of the CHB heart compared with the healthy controls. In addition, we also identified matrisome transcripts enriched in CHB stromal cells that potentially contribute to extracellular matrix deposition and subsequent fibrosis. Conclusion: These data provide an information-rich resource to further our understanding of human heart development, which, as illustrated by comparison to a heart exposed to a maternal autoimmune environment, can be leveraged to provide insight into the pathogenesis of disease.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1446-1457
Number of pages12
JournalCardiovascular research
Volume116
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2020

Keywords

  • Congenital heart block
  • Endothelial cells
  • Foetal heart
  • Single-cell RNA-seq

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physiology
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
  • Physiology (medical)

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