Biology subjects

Kawelo, E. K.

Publications and source records attributed to Kawelo, E. K..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Dissecting type I and II interferon impacts on human immune cells in disease by a cell type-specific interferon response atlas

Interferons (IFNs) orchestrate diverse immune responses, but distinguishing individual IFN contributions in human transcriptomic data is challenging due to overlapping interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) signatures and limited cell-type-specific datasets. To address this, we generated a single-cell transcriptomic atlas of IFN responses by stimulating primary human T, B, NK, and CD14 monocytes with IFN-I, IFN-II, and IFN-III. This revealed core and cell-type-specific ISG programs across 13 subsets, highlighting distinct functions of IFNs. We developed an algorithm to separate IFN-I and IFN-II activity in transcriptomic data. Applied to multiple myeloma samples, it showed elevated IFN-I and IFN-II responses, with induction therapy reducing only IFN-I. Extending to multiple disease datasets provided a cross-disease overview of IFN-I and IFN-II activities and revealed increased IFN-II activities in T cells during lupus flares. This resource and the accompanying analytical framework enable dissection of IFN-driven transcriptional programs in a cell-type specific manner in human disease.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2024

Systemic inflammation and lymphocyte activation precede rheumatoid arthritis

Some autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), are preceded by a critical subclinical phase of disease activity. Proactive clinical management is hampered by a lack of biological understanding of this subclinical at-risk state and the changes underlying disease development. In a cross-sectional and longitudinal multi-omics study of peripheral immunity in the autoantibody-positive at-risk for RA period, we identified systemic inflammation, proinflammatory-skewed B cells, expanded Tfh17-like cells, epigenetic bias in naive T cells, TNF+IL1B+ monocytes resembling a synovial macrophage population, and CD4 T cell transcriptional features resembling those suppressed by abatacept (CTLA4-Ig) in RA patients. Our findings characterize pathogenesis prior to clinical diagnosis and suggest the at-risk state exhibits substantial immune alterations that could potentially be targeted for early intervention to delay or prevent autoimmunity. We provide a suite of tools at https://apps.allenimmunology.org/aifi/insights/ra-progression/ to facilitate exploration and enhance accessibility of this extensive dataset. One Sentence SummaryACPA+ at-risk individuals show RA-like inflammation and multi-compartment immune dysregulation during transition to clinically active RA

immunology↗

bioRxiv2024

Longitudinal Multi-omic Immune Profiling Reveals Age-Related Immune Cell Dynamics in Healthy Adults

The generation and maintenance of protective immunity is a dynamic interplay between host and environment that is impacted by age. Understanding fundamental changes in the healthy immune system that occur over a lifespan is critical in developing interventions for age-related susceptibility to infections and diseases. Here, we use multi-omic profiling (scRNA-seq, proteomics, flow cytometry) to examined human peripheral immunity in over 300 healthy adults, with 96 young and older adults followed over two years with yearly vaccination. The resulting resource includes scRNA-seq datasets of >16 million PBMCs, interrogating 71 immune cell subsets from our new Immune Health Atlas. This study allows unique insights into the composition and transcriptional state of immune cells at homeostasis, with vaccine perturbation, and across age. We find that T cells specifically accumulate age-related transcriptional changes more than other immune cells, independent from inflammation and chronic perturbation. Moreover, impaired memory B cell responses to vaccination are linked to a Th2-like state shift in older adults memory CD4 T cells, revealing possible mechanisms of immune dysregulation during healthy human aging. This extensive resource is provided with a suite of exploration tools at https://apps.allenimmunology.org/aifi/insights/dynamics-imm-health-age/ to enhance data accessibility and further the understanding of immune health across age.

immunology↗