Back

Single-cell profiling reveals a novel RAB13+ endothelial subpopulation and profibrotic mesenchymal cells in the aged human bone marrow

Cenzano, I.; Cocera, M.; Lopez Perez, A. R.; Campos-Dopazo, L.; Ruiz, J.; Sancho, I.; San Martin-Uriz, P.; Aguirre-Ruiz, P.; Sarvide, S.; Vilas-Zornoza, A.; Ripalda-Cemborain, P.; Alignani, D.; Lopez, A.; Minana Barrios, M.; Quilez Agreda, D.; Ye, J.; Lehmann, R.; Sudupe, L.; Abengozar-Muela, M.; Tamariz-Amador, L.-E.; Muinos-Lopez, E.; Saez, B.; Tegner, J.; A. Calvo, I.; Gomez-Cabrero, D.; Prosper, F.

2025-06-23 molecular biology
10.1101/2025.01.28.635238 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The bone marrow (BM) microenvironment plays a crucial role in regulating hematopoiesis, yet the molecular changes associated with aging in humans remain poorly understood. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we uncovered transcriptional shifts in BM endothelial cells (EC) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) during aging. Aged sinusoidal EC exhibited a prothrombotic phenotype with compromised mitochondrial and vascular function. Additionally, we identified a novel arterial EC subset, emerging in aged individuals, characterized by RAB13 expression and associated with transcriptional regulatory processes. MSC from aged subjects displayed impaired matrix remodeling and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, driven partly by a subpopulation of THY1+ profibrotic cells absent in younger individuals. Finally, immunofluorescent imaging and spatial transcriptomics confirmed the presence of these aging-associated cells in BM samples from aged individuals. In summary, this work provides a comprehensive view of the transcriptional landscape, cellular interactions, and spatial organization of aged EC and MSC, offering novel insights and potential targets that could be exploited for preventing age-associated changes in humans. TeaserAging reshapes the bone marrow with emergence of RAB13+ endothelial cells and profibrotic stromal cells altering tissue function.

Matching journals

The top 8 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

50% of probability mass above

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.