Single Cell Analyses of Mouse Models of Colitis

Ojan Khosravifar, The University of Western Ontario

Abstract

Mouse models of colitis are used ubiquitously to study inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, we lack a thorough understanding of how these models work and which model recapitulates IBD most faithfully. This study profiled 8,777 single colonic immune cells to compare and better characterize the immune cell responses of DSS and oxazolone-induced colitis. Our results show differential abundance of neutrophil subtypes between the models, as well as presence of a putative colitis-associated colorectal cancer-initiating population of Ly6c^Hi monocytes unique to DSS. Comparisons between the models and a single-cell dataset of ulcerative colitis (UC) suggest DSS more closely resembles the immune response in patients. Moreover, Ly6c^Hi monocytes elevated in DSS were found to closely resemble inflammatory macrophages and monocytes in UC. Altogether, this study provides a single-cell characterization of the immune responses of these models and demonstrates DSS is more faithful to the immune response seen in UC patients.