Virus-associated Inflammation Imprints an Inflammatory Profile on Long-lived Monocyte-derived Macrophages in the Human Liver

Abstract

Chronic liver injury triggers the activation and recruitment of immune cells, causing antigen-independent tissue damage and liver disease progression. Tissue inflammation can reshape macrophage composition through monocyte replacement. Replacement of tissue macrophages with monocytes differentiating in an inflammatory environment can potentially imprint a phenotype that switches the liver from an immunotolerant organ to one predisposed to tissue damage. We longitudinally sampled the liver of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with active liver inflammation starting antiviral therapy. Antiviral therapy suppressed viral replication and liver inflammation, which coincided with decreased myeloid activation markers. Single-cell RNA sequencing mapped peripheral inflammatory markers to a monocyte-derived macrophage population, distinct from Kupffer cells, with an inflammatory transcriptional profile. The inflammatory macrophages (iMacs) differentiated from blood monocytes and established a long-lived population. The iMacs retained their core transcriptional signature, consistent with trained immunity, resulting in a population of macrophages primed for inflammation potentially driving progressive liver disease.