Social network architecture of human immune cells unveiled by quantitative proteomics

• Published in: Nature immunology Vol. 18; no. 5; pp. 583 - 593
• Main Authors: Rieckmann, Jan C, Geiger, Roger, Hornburg, Daniel, Wolf, Tobias, Kveler, Ksenya, Jarrossay, David, Sallusto, Federica, Shen-Orr, Shai S, Lanzavecchia, Antonio, Mann, Matthias, Meissner, Felix
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.05.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/250; 631/45/612; 82/58; 96/21; Animals; Biomedicine; Blood Cells - physiology; Bodily Secretions; Cell Communication; Cellular proteins; Computer Simulation; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Humans; Immune system; Immunity, Cellular; Immunology; Infectious Diseases; Mass Spectrometry; Properties; Protein Interaction Maps; Protein synthesis; Proteome; Proteomics; resource; Social Support; Spectrometry
• ISSN: 1529-2908; 1529-2916; 1529-2916
• DOI: 10.1038/ni.3693

Immune cells give rise to the most interconnected system in the body. Meissner and colleagues perform comprehensive proteomics and secretomics to describe in detail the ‘social network’ of human immune cells and throw light on previously unknown cell connectivities. The immune system is unique in its dynamic interplay between numerous cell types. However, a system-wide view of how immune cells communicate to protect against disease has not yet been established. We applied high-resolution mass-spectrometry-based proteomics to characterize 28 primary human hematopoietic cell populations in steady and activated states at a depth of >10,000 proteins in total. Protein copy numbers revealed a specialization of immune cells for ligand and receptor expression, thereby connecting distinct immune functions. By integrating total and secreted proteomes, we discovered fundamental intercellular communication structures and previously unknown connections between cell types. Our publicly accessible ( http://www.immprot.org/ ) proteomic resource provides a framework for the orchestration of cellular interplay and a reference for altered communication associated with pathology.