Journal Article

Single-cell transcriptomics uncovers key immune drivers of vaccine efficacy in cattle

Niemeyer, Dominic, Brice, Aaron M., Ingham, Aaron, Alexandre, Pâmela A., Royle, Caroline, Denman, Stuart E., Legrand, Thibault P. R. A., Hine, Brad C., Farr, Ryan J., Reverter, Antonio, Wilson, Annaleise

2025

Overview

Summary Comprehensive characterization of bovine immune cell populations is essential for improving animal welfare and disease resilience. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on over 29,000 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from Angus cattle stratified by delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), a proxy for the cellular immune response (Cell-IR). Unsupervised clustering identified major immune populations including CD4 ⁺ and CD8 ⁺ T cells, γδ T cells, B cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells. Differential gene expression suggests that low Cell-IR cattle have in elevated NKT inflammatory response, while high Cell-IR cattle have increased CD8- γδ T cell and pro-inflammatory myeloid activity. Intercellular communication analysis using CellChat highlighted pro-inflammatory cytokine cascades, particularly the IL-1β– IL-1R1 ligand-receptor interactions. This study provides a high-resolution atlas of Angus PBMCs and establishes a framework for linking immune cell composition with functional immune phenotypes in cattle.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Adaptive immunity / Animal diseases / Animal Genetics and Genomics / Animal welfare / Animals / Antigens / Bar codes / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Bovine immunology / Cattle / Cattle - immunology / CD4 antigen / CD8 antigen / Cell interactions / Cells / Clustering / Communication / Dendritic cells / Diseases / Gamma-delta T cells / Gene expression / Gene Expression Profiling / Gene sequencing / Genetic aspects / Genomics / Health aspects / Hypersensitivity / Hypersensitivity (delayed) / Immune response / Immune response (cell-mediated) / Immune system / Infectious diseases / Inflammation / Inflammatory response / Innate immunity / Interleukin 1 receptors / Leukocytes (mononuclear) / Leukocytes, Mononuclear - immunology / Leukocytes, Mononuclear - metabolism / Life Sciences / Lymphocytes / Lymphocytes B / Lymphocytes T / Microarrays / Microbial Genetics and Genomics / Monocytes / Peripheral blood mononuclear cells / Phenotypes / Plant Genetics and Genomics / Populations / Proteomics / RNA sequencing / Single cell sequencing / Single-Cell Analysis / Transcriptome / Transcriptomics / Vaccine efficacy / Vaccines / Vaccines - immunology