scRNA-Seq Reveals Sustained Pro-Inflammation by Innate Immune Activation in In Utero HBV-Exposed Neonates of High HBsAg Mothers.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: High levels of HBV DNA and HBsAg titres increase the risk of mother-to-child transmission. Development of adaptive immunity post HBV vaccination in neonates born to HBsAg-positive mothers may be determined by maternal HBsAg titres. We analysed pre- and post-HBV vaccination immune status in neonates.

METHOD: PBMCs were collected before and after vaccination for single cell multi-omics sequencing for infants born to mothers with low (Gr.1, sAgLo 1.65 × 102 IU/mL) and high (Gr.2, sAgHi 1.4 × 104IU/mL) HBsAg titres. Integrative analysis of whole transcriptome and surface marker expression was done using the Seurat R package. Functional validation of single-cell data was performed through immunophenotyping in both groups.

RESULTS

scRNAseq revealed that, at pre-HBV vaccine, CD8+T cells of neonates born to mothers with HBsAgHi levels showed increased expression (p < 0.05) of TOX, CTLA4, PD1, LAG3, CD38 and CREM exhaustion markers and decreased expression of ATP1B3, MREG and TGFβ1 compared to sAgLo. Monocytes and NK cells had elevated CXCR3, TNFSF9, HIVEP3, WDPCP, ATP6V1G2, IL-6, GMCSF and GCSF (p < 0.0001) driving the inflammation and mitochondrial biogenesis through MAP/ERK kinase in sAgHi compared to sAgLo. Post-vaccination, despite anti-HBs titre ≥ 10 IU/mL, sAgHi, neonates showed persistently high TOX, CTLA4, PD1 and CREM in CD8+T cells (p < 0.0001). Functional validations by immune phenotyping also showed higher expression of LAG3, PD1, TIGIT and BTLA (p < 0.05) on CD8+T cells pre- and post-vaccination in sAgHi compared to sAgLo.

CONCLUSION

HBV exposure compromises adaptive immunity at birth; despite post-vaccination anti-HBs titres generation, there was a sustained pro-inflammatory state by the innate immune activation via metabolic alterations that persisted in neonates born to sAgHi mothers.