Parallel comparison of T cell and B cell subpopulations of adenoid hypertrophy and tonsil hypertrophy of children
The adenoids and tonsils are important immune organs of the nasopharynx that often become hypertrophic in childhood because of recurrent pathogen infection. However, the differences in the immune microenvironment of adenoid hypertrophy (AH) and tonsil hypertrophy (TH) are unclear. Here, we show the epidemiological characteristics and peripheral blood cell indices of 1209 pediatric patients (1-15 years old) diagnosed with AH, and find that AH is often accompanied by TH and characterized by specific changes in immune cell types. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis show that 12 paired AH and TH samples contain large numbers of B, T cells and some exhausted effector memory CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells. Compared with matched TH, AH have more naïve B cells and regulatory CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells and less plasma B cells. Weaker antigen presentation and more significant immunosuppression are also observed in AH. In contrast, the number and cytotoxicity of cytotoxic CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells decrease with AH grade. These findings will help our understanding of the immune response to nasopharyngeal infection.
Authors
- Zihui Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3468-7782)
- Guanhua Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7091-265X)
- Junxia Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1610-2476)
- Ying Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4076-051X)
- Yan Chao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9957-2177)
- Bing Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1614-4717)
- Qinglong Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8878-4716)
- Lin Gan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4868-6334)
- Jing Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6939-9676)
- Shuo Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1239-4647)
- Jieqiong Liang
- Zhijie Tang
- Fan Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6497-6198)
- Shiyu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4392-7458)
- Yang Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7432-4735)
- Ruikun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9139-6439)
- Chong Pang
- Hanqing Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5151-0743)
- Bing Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5781-3713)
- Yuehua Ke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6054-880X)
- Ting Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0635-0039)
- Lijuan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8713-2641)
- Yanling Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3113-8224)
- Yagang Gao
- Jinghua Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8427-7784)
- Ziying Xu
Institutions
- Capital Medical University (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (CN)
- Capital Institute of Pediatrics (CN)
- Beijing Children’s Hospital (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-04-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58094-w
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Immune Cell Function and Interaction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.59
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences
- Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College