Spatial profiling of the mouse colonic immune landscape associated with colitis and sex

Abstract

Inflammatory intestinal conditions are a major disease burden. Numerous factors shape the distribution of immune cells in the colon, but a spatial characterization of the homeostatic and inflamed colonic immune microenvironment is lacking. Here, we use the COMET platform for multiplex immunofluorescence to profile the infiltration of nine immune cell populations in mice of both sexes (N = 16) with full spatial context, including in regions of squamous metaplasia. Unsupervised clustering, neighborhood analysis, and manual quantification along the proximal-distal axis characterized the colonic immune landscape, quantified cell-cell interactions, and revealed sex differences. The distal colon was the most affected region during colitis, which was pronounced in males, who exhibited a sex-dependent increase of B cells and reduction of M2-like macrophages. Regions of squamous metaplasia exhibited strong infiltration of numerous immune cell populations, especially in males. Females exhibited more helper T cells and neutrophils at homeostasis and increased M2-like macrophage infiltration in the mid-colon upon colitis. Sex differences were corroborated by plasma cytokine profiles. Our results provide a foundation for future studies of inflammatory intestinal conditions. Spatial profiling of the colonic immune microenvironment at homeostasis and during colitis in mice, with a focus on sex differences in immune infiltration.