Biology subjects

Shlush, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Shlush, L..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

DNMT3A-R882 mutations intrinsically drive dysfunctional neutropoiesis from human haematopoietic stem cells

Clonal haematopoiesis (CH) arises from the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) carrying leukaemia-associated somatic mutations. CH is linked to pathological immune dysregulation and a greater risk of age-related inflammatory diseases. Yet, how CH mutations impact HSC differentiation into immune effector cells remains understudied. Here, we report a single-cell resolution functional and multi-omic investigation of HSC clonal and differentiation dynamics in individuals with DNMT3A-R882 CH. DNMT3A-R882 reshapes the clonal architecture of haematopoiesis towards an aged phylogenetic structure. Functionally, DNMT3A-R882 HSCs produce decreased monocytic output but more abundant and mature neutrophil progeny compared to WT HSCs in the same individual. Whereas DNMT3A-R882 myeloid progenitors display attenuated inflammatory transcriptional programmes, DNMT3A- R882 mature neutrophils acquire proinflammatory and immunomodulatory features typical of maladaptive immunity and CH co-morbidities. Our findings, validated in humanised mice, identify aberrant DNMT3A-R882 HSC-driven neutropoiesis as a key link between CH, immune dysregulation and risk of inflammatory disease.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Deciphering the Origin and Plasticity of Circulating Endothelial Cells: A Model for Systemic Angiogenesis Programs in Health and Disease

Endothelial cells line the inner surface of blood and lymphatic vessels and play key roles in vascular function. Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) are endothelial cells found in the bloodstream, yet their origin and functional potential have not been fully elucidated. To investigate their identity, we assembled and analyzed multiple public single-cell gene expression atlases comprising 212,144 endothelial cells from 23 human tissues. Using these datasets, we identified gene modules that quantitatively resolve endothelial types and states, including arterial, capillary, venous, lymphatic, and angiogenic-state programs, along with genes that are unique to endothelial cells of specific tissues. Leveraging this knowledge to 597 CECs, which we isolated from 2.1 million circulating CD34 cells across 287 donors, we found that CECs span a wide spectrum of mature endothelial identities and tissue-specific programs, consistent with diverse vascular origins. In culture, CECs downregulate mature endothelial markers (e.g., CD34) and acquire a progenitor-like PROCR transcriptional expression. Alteration of the Notch signaling in-vitro reverses this shift, with indirect activation of the pathway inducing a capillary and angiogenic program reminiscent of mature endothelial cells. As we profiled the angiogenic program in-vivo and created an in-vitro angiogenic EC model, we sought to determine whether similar transcriptional programs are present in the context of cancer. We analyzed publicly available single-cell RNA-seq datasets from normal and malignant breast tissue, uncovering a marked enrichment of angiogenic endothelial cells not only within the tumor but, surprisingly, also in histologically normal contralateral breast tissue from breast cancer patients, pointing to a previously unrecognized systemic paraneoplastic effect. Transcriptomic overlap between these in-vivo angiogenic cells and Notch-biased cultured CEC derivatives suggests that CEC cultures may serve as an accessible human model for tumor-driven and paraneoplastic vascular remodeling. Together, our study introduces a comprehensive framework for deciphering endothelial cell identity, illuminates CEC origin and plasticity, and provides a scalable platform to study cancer-associated endothelial reprogramming.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Hematopoietic Tet2 inactivation enhances the response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy

Somatic mutations inactivating TET2 are among the most common drivers of clonal hematopoiesis (CH). While TET2 inactivation is associated with monocyte-derived inflammation and improved chimeric antigen-receptor-T cell function, its impact on immunotherapy response is unknown. In our mouse model, hematopoietic Tet2 mutation enhanced immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) response. Enhanced ICB response with Tet2 mutation required phagocytes, CD4 and CD8 T cells. Mechanistically, in Tet2-mutant tumor-infiltrating leukocytes (TILs), ICB preferentially induced anti-tumor states and restricted cell states linked to tumor progression. Tet2-mutant monocytes activated costimulatory programs, while Tet2-mutant T cells showed enhanced T cell memory signatures, lesser exhaustion and decreased regulatory phenotype. Our murine data was clinically relevant, since we found that melanomas from patients with TET2 driver mutation-CH (TET2-CH) showed enhanced immune infiltration, T cell activation, and T cell memory programs. In melanoma patients treated with ICB, TET2-CH was associated with 6-fold greater odds of clinical benefit. Collectively, our data establishes that hematopoietic Tet2 inactivation primes leukocytes for anti-tumor states associated with immunotherapy response and provides a potential biomarker for personalized therapy.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Natural and age-related variation in circulating human hematopoietic stem cells

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) deliver life-long multi-lineage output. However, with aging, we exhibit certain characteristic blood count changes and accumulation of clonal disorders. Better understanding of inter-individual variation in HSPC behavior is needed to understand these age-related phenomena and the transition from health to chronic and acute hematological malignancies. Here we study 627K single circulating CD34+ HSPCs (cHSPCs) from 148 healthy individuals, along with their clinical information and clonal hematopoiesis (CH) profiles, to characterize population-wide and age-related hematopoietic variability. Individuals with CH were linked with reduced frequencies of lymphocyte progenitors and higher RDW. An age-related decrease in lymphoid progenitors was observed, predominantly in males. Inter-individual transcriptional variation in expression of a Lamin-A signature and stemness gene programs were linked with aging and presence of macrocytic anemia. Based on our model for healthy cHSPC variation we construct the normal reference for cHSPC subtype frequencies. We show how compositional and expression deviations from this normal reference can robustly identify myeloid malignancies and pre-malignant states. Together, our data and methodologies present a novel resource, shedding light on various age-related hematopoietic processes, and a comprehensive normal cHSPC reference, which can serve as a tool for diagnosing and characterizing hematological disorders.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Monocyte-derived microglia with Dnmt3a mutation cause motor pathology in aging mice

Microglia are established in embryogenesis forming a self-containing cellular compartment resisting seeding with cells derived from adult definitive hematopoiesis. We report that monocyte-derived macrophages (MoM{Phi}) accumulate in the brain of aging mice with distinct topology, including the nigrostriatum and medulla, but not the frontal cortex. Parenchymal MoM{Phi} adopt bona fide microglia expression profiles. Unlike microglia, these monocyte-derived microglia (MoMg) are due to their hematopoietic origin targets of clonal hematopoiesis (CH). Using a chimeric transfer model, we show that hematopoietic expression of DNMT3AR822H, a prominent mutation in human CH, renders MoMg pathogenic promoting motor deficits resembling atypical Parkinsonian disorders. Collectively, these data establish in a mouse model that MoMg progressively seed the brains of aging healthy mice, accumulate in selected areas, and, when carrying a somatic mutation associated with CH, can contribute to brain pathology.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2022

Inflammatory signals from fatty bone marrow supports the early stages of DNMT3a driven clonal hematopoiesis

Age related cancer is not only due to the random accumulation of mutations, but also how phenotypes are selected by the aging environment. While fatty bone marrow (FBM), is one of the hallmarks of bone marrow ageing, it is unknown whether FBM can modify the evolution of the early stages of leukemia and clonal hematopoiesis (CH). To address this question, we established FBM mice models and transplanted both human and mice preleukemic hematopoietic stem cells (PreL-HSCs) carrying DNMT3A mutations. We demonstrate that castration which models age related andropenia result in FBM. A significant increase in self-renewal was found when DNMT3AMut - preL-HSPCs were exposed to FBM. To better understand the mechanisms of the FBM-preL-HSPCs interaction, we performed single cell RNA-sequencing on HSPCs three days after FBM exposure. A 20-50 fold increase in DNMT3AMut-preL-HSCs was observed under FBM conditions in comparison to other conditions. PreL-HSPCs exposed to FBM exhibited an activated inflammatory signaling (IL-6 and INF{gamma}). Cytokine analysis of BM fluid demonstrated increased IL-6 levels under FBM conditions. Anti-IL-6 neutralizing antibodies significantly reduced the selective advantage of DNMT3AMut-preL-HSPCs exposed to FBM. Overall, age related paracrine FBM inflammatory signals promote DNMT3A-driven clonal hematopoiesis, which can be inhibited by blocking the IL-6 receptor.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Interacting evolutionary pressures drive mutation dynamics and health outcomes in aging blood

A small population of self-renewing, hematopoietic stem cells continuously reconstitutes our immune system. As we age, these cells, or their pluripotent descendants, accumulate somatic mutations; some of these mutations provide selection advantages and increase in frequency in the peripheral blood cell population. This process of positive selection, deemed age-related clonal hematopoiesis (ARCH), is associated with increased risk for cardiac disease and blood malignancies, like acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, it remains unclear why some people with ARCH do not progress to AML, even when their blood cells harbor well-known AML driver mutations. Here, we examine whether negative selection can play a role in determining AML progression by modelling the complex interplay of positive and negative selective processes. Using a novel approach combining deep learning and population genetic models, we detect pervasive negative selection in targeted sequence data from the blood of 92 pre-AML individuals and 385 healthy controls. We find that the relative proportion of passenger to driver mutations is critical in determining if the selective advantage conferred to a cell by a known driver mutation is able to overwhelm negative selection acting on passenger mutations and allow clones harbouring disease-predisposing mutations to rise to dominance. We find that a subset of non-driver genes is enriched for mildly damaging mutations in healthy individuals fitting purifying models of evolution suggesting that mutations in these genes might confer a protective role against disease-predisposing clonal expansions. Through exploring non drivercentric models of evolution, we show how different classes of evolution act to shape hematopoietic dynamics and subsequent health outcome which may better inform disease prediction and unveil novel therapeutic targets. We anticipate that our results and modelling techniques can be broadly applied to identify both driver mutations and those mildly damaging passenger mutations, as well as help understand the early evolution of cancer in other cells and tissues.

cancer biology↗