Multiplexed Detection of Secreted Cytokines at near-Molecular Resolution Elucidates Macrophage Polarization Heterogeneity.

Monitoring the secretion of proteins from single cells can provide important insights into how cells respond to their microenvironment. This is particularly true for immune cells, which can exhibit a large degree of response heterogeneity. Microfabricated well arrays provide a powerful and versatile method to assess the secretion of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors from single cells, but detection sensitivity has been limited to high levels on the order of 10,000 per cell. Recently, we reported a quantum dot-based immunoassay that lowered the detection limit for the cytokine TNF-α to concentrations to nearly the single-cell level. Here, we adapted this detection method to three additional targets while maintaining high detection sensitivity. Specifically, we detected MCP-1, TGF-ß, IL-10, and TNF-α using quantum dots with different emission spectra, each of which displayed a detection threshold in the range of 1-10 fM or ∼1-2 molecules per well. We then quantified secretion of all four proteins from single macrophage cells that were stimulated toward a pro-inflammatory state with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or toward a pro-healing state with both LPS and interleukin 4 (IL-4). We found that MCP-1 and TGF-ß were predominantly secreted at high levels only (>10,000 molecules/cell), while a substantial number of cells secreted IL-10 and TNF-α at lower levels that could only be detected using our method. Subsequent principal component and cluster analysis revealed that secretion profiles could be classified as either exclusively pro-inflammatory, including MCP-1 and/or TNF-α, or more subtle responses displaying both pro-healing and pro-inflammatory characters. Our results highlight the heterogeneous and nondiscrete nature of macrophage phenotypes following in vitro stimulation of a cell line. Future work will focus on expanding the multiplexing capacity by extending emission spectra bandwidth and/or spatially barcoding capture antibodies, as well as evaluating the enhanced detection sensitivity capabilities with normal and diseased immune cell populations in vitro and in vivo.

Pushing the limits of detection for proteins secreted from single cells using quantum dots.

Single cell analysis methods are increasingly being utilized to investigate how individual cells process information and respond to diverse stimuli. Soluble proteins play a critical role in controlling cell populations and tissues, but directly monitoring secretion is technically challenging. Microfabricated well arrays have been developed to assess secretion at the single cell level, but these systems are limited by low detection sensitivity. Semiconductor quantum dots (QD) exhibit remarkably bright and photostable luminescence signal, but to date they have not been evaluated in single cell secretion studies using microfabricated well arrays. Here, we used QDs in a sandwich immunoassay to detect secretion of the soluble cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) from single cells. To enhance detection sensitivity, we employed two different strategies. First, we used a unique single QD imaging approach, which provided a detection threshold (180 attomolar) that was >100-fold lower than previously reported results using QDs. We also amplified QD binding to each captured TNF-α molecule using the bioorthogonal cycloaddition reaction between trans-cyclooctene and tetrazine, which further lowered detection threshold to 60 attomolar. This is 6 orders of magnitude more sensitive than organic fluorophores that have been used for single cell secretion studies, and far surpasses single molecule resolution within sub-picoliter microwells that are used to assess single cell secretion. Finally, single cell secretion studies were performed using phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) differentiated and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activated U-937 cells. TNF-α secretion was detected from 3-fold more single cells using the QD-based method in comparison to rhodamine, which was accomplished by extending sensitivity into the range of ∼2 to 10 000 molecules captured per microwell. In future work, we will apply this technique to assess immune cell secretion dynamics under diverse stimuli and disease settings. We will also incorporate multiplexing capabilities to evaluate the secretome at the resolution of single molecules.