Single-cell Profiling of Airway-associated CD4+ T cells in Metal-induced Hypersensitivity

Single-cell RNA sequencing of bronchoalveolar lavage CD4+ T cells from beryllium-exposed patients (n=2) shows increased activation and immune-regulation gene expression, including IFNG and TNF.

• Why it matters: Chronic beryllium disease involves pathogenic CD4+ T cell accumulation in lungs, but early molecular biomarkers and therapeutic targets remain unclear.
• What they did: Sorted viable BAL cells were profiled by scRNA-seq in beryllium-exposed patients (n=2) and compared with healthy controls (n=10) from public scRNA-seq datasets, identifying 11 CD3-associated clusters.
• The result: CD4+ T cells from beryllium samples show upregulated activation/immune effector pathways and downregulated metabolic pathways, with distinct signatures including IFI27 and FABP4 for biomarker and target follow-up.

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