Single cell multiplex mass cytometry reveals differential abundance of specific cytotoxic memory and regulatory T cell populations in human hypertension

Abstract Emerging evidence from animal models demonstrates the importance of a variety of innate and adaptive immune cells in the pathogenesis of hypertension. We hypothesized that the abundance and phenotype of circulating immune cell subsets is altered in human hypertension reflecting disease pathophysiology. We thus performed high dimensional, single cell profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in humans with a panel of 31 cell surface markers using mass cytometry. Unsupervised computational analysis from 11 control and 10 hypertensive individuals matched for age, gender, race, and body mass index revealed an approximately two-fold increase in a novel memory helper CD62L+CCR7−CD161lo T cell subset in hypertensive subjects. In addition, manual gating for major known immune cell populations revealed a 40% decrease in memory cytotoxic T cells and a 29% decrease in regulatory T cells in hypertensive individuals. Unsupervised analysis of the cellular subsets of these populations using Phenograph demonstrated a selective 63% decrease in PD-1+ memory cytotoxic T cells and 49% decrease in CCR10+ regulatory T cells in hypertension. In a validation cohort, circulating PD-1+ memory cytotoxic and CCR10+ regulatory T cells were significantly decreased by 30% and 50%, respectively, without a difference in the memory helper T cell subset. Taken together, these results demonstrate novel and reproducible decreases in circulating PD-1+ memory cytotoxic and CCR10+ regulatory T cell populations in human hypertension. These findings may provide new insights into hypertension pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets.