MIRIAM: A machine and deep learning single-cell segmentation and quantification pipeline for multi-dimensional tissue images

Increasingly, highly multiplexed tissue imaging methods are used to profile protein expression at the single‐cell level. However, a critical limitation is the lack of robust cell segmentation tools for tissue sections. We present Multiplexed Image Resegmentation of Internal Aberrant Membranes (MIRIAM) that combines (a) a pipeline for cell segmentation and quantification that incorporates machine learning‐based pixel classification to define cellular compartments, (b) a novel method for extending incomplete cell membranes, and (c) a deep learning‐based cell shape descriptor. Using human colonic adenomas as an example, we show that MIRIAM is superior to widely utilized segmentation methods and provides a pipeline that is broadly applicable to different imaging platforms and tissue types.

Succinate Produced by Intestinal Microbes Promotes Specification of Tuft Cells to Suppress Ileal Inflammation

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Countries endemic for parasitic infestations have a lower incidence of Crohn's disease (CD) than nonendemic countries, and there have been anecdotal reports of the beneficial effects of helminths in CD patients. Tuft cells in the small intestine sense and direct the immune response against eukaryotic parasites. We investigated the activities of tuft cells in patients with CD and mouse models of intestinal inflammation.

METHODS

We used microscopy to quantify tuft cells in intestinal specimens from patients with ileal CD (n = 19), healthy individuals (n = 14), and TNF^ΔARE/+ mice, which develop Crohn's-like ileitis. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing, mass spectrometry, and microbiome profiling of intestinal tissues from wild-type and Atoh1-knockout mice, which have expansion of tuft cells, to study interactions between microbes and tuft cell populations. We assessed microbe dependence of tuft cell populations using microbiome depletion, organoids, and microbe transplant experiments. We used multiplex imaging and cytokine assays to assess alterations in inflammatory response following expansion of tuft cells with succinate administration in TNF^ΔARE/+ and anti-CD3E CD mouse models.

RESULTS

Inflamed ileal tissues from patients and mice had reduced numbers of tuft cells, compared with healthy individuals or wild-type mice. Expansion of tuft cells was associated with increased expression of genes that regulate the tricarboxylic acid cycle, which resulted from microbe production of the metabolite succinate. Experiments in which we manipulated the intestinal microbiota of mice revealed the existence of an ATOH1-independent population of tuft cells that was sensitive to metabolites produced by microbes. Administration of succinate to mice expanded tuft cells and reduced intestinal inflammation in TNF^ΔARE/+ mice and anti-CD3E-treated mice, increased GATA3⁺ cells and type 2 cytokines (IL22, IL25, IL13), and decreased RORGT⁺ cells and type 17 cytokines (IL23) in a tuft cell-dependent manner.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that tuft cell expansion reduced chronic intestinal inflammation in mice. Strategies to expand tuft cells might be developed for treatment of CD.