Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILCs) are a heterogeneous group of cells that are critical in maintaining homeostasis and protecting the body from pathogens and cancer. Group 1 ILCs, which include ILC1s and NK cells, are enriched in the liver and have been implicated in several liver diseases, including metabolic syndrome and liver cancer. Group 1 ILCs exhibit heterogeneity, but the function and development of the different subsets as well as their role in liver pathologies is poorly understood.
Here, we used publicly available scRNAseq datasets to study the characteristics of the different ILC subsets in the liver. We created a map of different Group 1 ILCs, which include cytotoxic and non-cytotoxic ILC1s as well as mature and immature NK cells. To understand how the development of each cell subset is regulated, we analysed the RNA velocity of different subsets using scVelo and identified genes that are important in driving maturation of cells. We identified highly expressed unspliced transcript of genes that have not previously been implicated in ILC function, such as Atp8a2 and Cd28 in ILC1s and Dhrs3 and Satb1 in NK cells. This revealed that ILC progenitors exhibit significant heterogeneity which markedly impacts their differentiation potential.
Together, we identified regulators of ILC1 and NK cell function that can help understand the complex regulation and function of Group 1 ILCs in the liver.