Oral Presentation 43rd Lorne Genome Conference 2022

Revisiting sex and age of the human immune system at single-cell resolution (#49)

Sara Ballouz 1 2 , Seyhan Yazar 1 , Jose Alquicira-Hernande 1 3 , Kristof Wing 4 5 , Anne Senabouth 1 , Stacey Andersen 3 , Linda Clarke 6 , Katia Maccora 4 7 , Kirsten A. Fairfax 4 , Alex W. Hewitt 4 5 7 , Joseph E. Powell 1 8
  1. Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  4. Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
  5. Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, TAS, Australia
  6. Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  7. Department of Surgery, School of Clinical Science at Monash Health, Monash University, VIC, Australia
  8. UNSW Cellular Genomics Futures Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Sex has a major role in determining susceptibility and progression of disease, ranging from communicable diseases (such as viral infections) to autoimmune disorders (such as rheumatoid arthritis). Fundamentally, the immune system of males and females are known to differ, but sex differences are generated through the interaction of numerous genes, biological and environmental factors, including age and life events. As such, it remains to be understood which of these genes and factors contribute the most to differences in disease and which could help in diagnosis and therapies. In this work, we aimed to characterize differences in the immune system across the sexes at single-cell resolution to help better tease apart these factors. We have analysed 1,267,758 cells (PBMCs) from 982 individuals to give a clearer picture of a populations immune landscape. We assessed cell-type proportions and sex-and age- biased gene expression. We confirm previous findings of differences in immune cell-types across age and sex (such as NK cells), but at a greater resolution as single-cell transcriptomics afforded multiple levels of cell-type classification. These preliminary findings suggest analysing data with sex, age and cell-type as key biological variables will improve future disease discoveries.