{"doi":"10.1038/s41598-021-90458-2","title":"Human immune system adaptations to simulated microgravity revealed by single-cell mass cytometry","abstract":"Abstract Exposure to microgravity (µG) during space flights produces a state of immunosuppression, leading to increased viral shedding, which could interfere with long term missions. However, the cellular mechanisms that underlie the immunosuppressive effects of µG are ill-defined. A deep understanding of human immune adaptations to µG is a necessary first step to design data-driven interventions aimed at preserving astronauts’ immune defense during short- and long-term spaceflights. We employed a high-dimensional mass cytometry approach to characterize over 250 cell-specific functional responses in 18 innate and adaptive immune cell subsets exposed to 1G or simulated (s)µG using the Rotating Wall Vessel. A statistically stringent elastic net method produced a multivariate model that accurately stratified immune responses observed in 1G and sµG ( p value 2E−4, cross-validation). Aspects of our analysis resonated with prior knowledge of human immune adaptations to µG, including the dampening of Natural Killer, CD4 + and CD8 + T cell responses. Remarkably, we found that sµG enhanced STAT5 signaling responses of immunosuppressive T regs . Our results suggest µG exerts a dual effect on the human immune system, simultaneously dampening cytotoxic responses while enhancing T reg function. Our study provides a single-cell readout of sµG-induced immune dysfunctions and an analytical framework for future studies of human immune adaptations to human long-term spaceflights.","journal":"Scientific Reports","year":2021,"id":164238,"datarank":0.5533319181170905,"base_score":3.6888794541139363,"endowment":3.6888794541139363,"self_citation_contribution":0.5533319181170905,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.5533319181170905,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":39,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9517,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":685879,"name":"M. Hughes Fulford","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":685117,"name":"Albert Tsai","orcid":"0000-0002-8927-0909","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":278123,"name":"Dyani Gaudillière","orcid":"0000-0003-3017-5939","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":271982,"name":"Julien Hédou","orcid":"0000-0003-4721-4797","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":278121,"name":"Edward A. Ganio","orcid":"0000-0002-1088-0377","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":34078,"name":"Martin S. Angst","orcid":"0000-0002-1550-8136","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":226949,"name":"Nima Aghaeepour","orcid":"0000-0002-6117-8764","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":86469,"name":"Brice Gaudillière","orcid":"0000-0002-3475-5706","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":30075,"name":"Jordan Spatz","orcid":"0000-0002-6732-7353","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":54,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:45:27.031465Z","pmid":"34099760","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}