Mapping Human Cardiac Sarcoidosis by Single Nuclear and Spatial Profiling

Circulation Research, vol. 131, pp. 670–672

Abstract

ardiac involvement of sarcoidosis is a life-threatening disease accounting for a majority of deaths in sarcoidosis patients.Affected patients present clinically with arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, or sudden cardiac death.The mechanisms of sarcoidosis are unclear and likely involve exposure to an as-yet-unknown antigen.In this issue of Circulation Research Liu et al 1 utilize spatial and single nuclear transcriptomics to characterize the cellular composition and spatial architecture of human cardiac sarcoidosis.Using multimodal data, they investigated the immune microenvironment of cardiac sarcoidosis and discovered the unique transcriptional and spatial organization of macrophage cell states.Their data suggest GPNMB (transmembrane glycoprotein NMB) as a novel maker of multinucleated giant cells in cardiac sarcoidosis derived from monocytes via an intermediate macrophage cell state and suggest HLA-DR staining as a potential diagnostic tool to distinguish cardiac sarcoidosis from giant cell myocarditis.

Authors 2

1. Sikander Hayat Aachen Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology (S.H., R.K.), RWTH Aachen University, Germany

   Sikander Hayat https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5919-8371 Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology (S.H., R.K.), RWTH Aachen University, Germany

2. Rafael Kramann corresponding Aachen Medical Faculty Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology

   RWTH Aachen University · Erasmus MC

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Transplantation, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (R.K.)

   Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology (R.K.), RWTH Aachen University, Germany

   Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology (S.H., R.K.), RWTH Aachen University, Germany

   Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, Medical Faculty RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany