Immune quorum sensing dictates IFN-I response dynamics in human plasmacytoid dendritic cells.

Type I interferons (IFN-Is) are key in fighting viral infections, but also serve major roles beyond antiviral immunity. Crucial is the tight regulation of IFN-I responses, while excessive levels are harmful to the cells. In essence, immune responses are generated by single cells making their own decisions, which are based on the signals they perceive. Additionally, immune cells must anticipate the future state of their environment, thereby weighing the costs and benefits of each possible outcome, in the presence of other potentially competitive decision makers (i.e., IFN-I producing cells). A rather new cellular communication mechanism called quorum sensing describes the effect of cell density on cellular secretory behaviors, which fits well with matching the right amount of IFN-Is produced to fight an infection. More competitive decision makers must contribute relatively less and vice versa. Intrigued by this concept, we assessed the effects of immune quorum sensing in pDCs, specialized immune cells known for their ability to mass produce IFN-Is. Using conventional microwell assays and droplet-based microfluidics assays, we were able the characterize the effect of quorum sensing in human primary immune cells in vitro. These insights open new avenues to manipulate IFN-I response dynamics in pathological conditions affected by aberrant IFN-I signaling.

Guidelines for mouse and human DC generation.

This article is part of the Dendritic Cell Guidelines article series, which provides a collection of state-of-the-art protocols for the preparation, phenotype analysis by flow cytometry, generation, fluorescence microscopy, and functional characterization of mouse and human dendritic cells (DC) from lymphoid organs and various non-lymphoid tissues. This article provides protocols with top ticks and pitfalls for preparation and successful generation of mouse and human DC from different cellular sources, such as murine BM and HoxB8 cells, as well as human CD34+ cells from cord blood, BM, and peripheral blood or peripheral blood monocytes. We describe murine cDC1, cDC2, and pDC generation with Flt3L and the generation of BM-derived DC with GM-CSF. Protocols for human DC generation focus on CD34+ cell culture on OP9 cell layers for cDC1, cDC2, cDC3, and pDC subset generation and DC generation from peripheral blood monocytes (MoDC). Additional protocols include enrichment of murine DC subsets, CRISPR/Cas9 editing, and clinical grade human DC generation. While all protocols were written by experienced scientists who routinely use them in their work, this article was also peer-reviewed by leading experts and approved by all co-authors, making it an essential resource for basic and clinical DC immunologists.

Decoding the dynamics of multilayered stochastic antiviral IFN-I responses.

Type I Interferon (IFN-I) responses were first recognized for their role in antiviral immunity, but it is now widely appreciated that IFN-Is have many immunomodulatory functions, influencing antitumor responses, autoimmune manifestations, and antimicrobial defenses. Given these pivotal roles, it may be surprising that multilayered stochastic events create highly heterogeneous, but tightly regulated, all-or-nothing cellular decisions. Recently, mathematical models have provided crucial insights into the stochastic nature of antiviral IFN-I responses, which we critically evaluate in this review. In this context, we emphasize the need for innovative single-cell technologies combined with mathematical models to further reveal, understand, and predict the complexity of the IFN-I system in physiological and pathological conditions that may be relevant to a plethora of diseases.

Revising immune cell coordination: Origins and importance of single-cell variation.

Moving from the optimalization of single-cell technologies to the interpretation of the multi-complex single-cell data, the field of immunoengineering is granted with numerous important insights into the coordination of immune cell activation and how to modulate it for therapeutic purposes. However, insights come with additional follow-up questions that challenge our perception on how immune responses are generated and fine-tuned to fight a wide array of pathogens in ever-changing and often unpredictable microenvironments. Are immune responses really either being tightly regulated by molecular determinants, or highly flexible attributed to stochasticity? What exactly makes up the basic rules by which single cells cooperate to establish tissue-level immunity? Taking the type I IFN system and its newest insights as a main example throughout this review, we revise the basic concepts of (single) immune cell coordination, redefine the concepts of noise, stochasticity and determinism, and highlight the importance of single-cell variation in immunology and beyond.

Understanding natural killer cell biology from a single cell perspective.

During the last decade, advances in single cell technologies have ignited increased understanding of natural killer cells (NK cells), which turned out to be far more complex than originally thought. Ample studies have established tissue-specific phenotypic variation within this cell population; however, the functional implication of this vast variation is still unclear. At single-cell level, the function of a NK cell is tightly regulated by several checkpoints however upon proper recognition the cell can deliver a lytic hit as early as 10 min or could take hours before they can kill their target cells. Moreover, only a fraction of NK cells appears to kill target cells while the larger portion of NK cells appear to be non-cytotoxic. All these studies showed that the NK cell compartment is composed of cells with different functional strengths and efficacies, thereby highlighting the necessity of analytical platforms that allow the study of these important innate immune cells at single-cell level. In this review, we discuss and provide an overview on phenotypical and functional heterogeneity within the NK cell population and subsequently provide information regarding emerging technologies that highlight the importance of single-cell studies to understand the biology of these cells.

Development of Morphologically Discrete PEG-PDLLA Nanotubes for Precision Nanomedicine.

Precise control over the morphological features of nanoparticles is an important requisite for their application in nanomedical research. Parameters such as size and shape have been identified as critical features for effective nanotherapeutic technologies due to their role in circulation, distribution, and internalization in vivo. Tubular PEG-PDLLA polymersomes (nanotubes) exhibit an interesting morphology with potential for immunotherapeutics, as the elongated shape can affect cell-particle interactions. Developing methodologies that permit control over the precise form of such nanotubes is important for their biomedical implementation due to the stringent physicochemical constraints for efficacious performance. Through careful control over the engineering process, we demonstrate the generation of well-defined nanotubes based on polymersomes as small as 250 and 100 nm, which can be successfully shape transformed. The quality of the resulting nanostructures was established by physical characterization using AF4-MALS and cryo-TEM. Moreover, we show the successful loading of such nanotubes with model payloads (proteins and drugs). These findings provide a promising platform for implementation in biomedical applications in which discrete structure and functionality are essential features.

CLEC12A-Mediated Antigen Uptake and Cross-Presentation by Human Dendritic Cell Subsets Efficiently Boost Tumor-Reactive T Cell Responses.

Potent immunotherapies are urgently needed to boost antitumor immunity and control disease in cancer patients. As dendritic cells (DCs) are the most powerful APCs, they are an attractive means to reinvigorate T cell responses. An appealing strategy to use the effective Ag processing and presentation machinery, T cell stimulation and cross-talk capacity of natural DC subsets is in vivo tumor Ag delivery. In this context, endocytic C-type lectin receptors are attractive targeting molecules. In this study, we investigated whether CLEC12A efficiently delivers tumor Ags into human DC subsets, facilitating effective induction of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses. We confirmed that CLEC12A is selectively expressed by myeloid cells, including the myeloid DC subset (mDCs) and the plasmacytoid DC subset (pDCs). Moreover, we demonstrated that these DC subsets efficiently internalize CLEC12A, whereupon it quickly translocates to the early endosomes and subsequently routes to the lysosomes. Notably, CLEC12A Ab targeting did not negatively affect DC maturation or function. Furthermore, CLEC12A-mediated delivery of keyhole limpet hemocyanin resulted in enhanced proliferation and cytokine secretion by keyhole limpet hemocyanin-experienced CD4(+) T cells. Most importantly, CLEC12A-targeted delivery of HA-1 long peptide resulted in efficient Ag cross-presentation by mDCs and pDCs, leading to strong ex vivo activation of HA-1-specific CD8(+) T cells of patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Collectively, these data indicate that CLEC12A is an effective new candidate with great potential for in vivo Ag delivery into mDCs and pDCs, thereby using the specialized functions and cross-talk capacity of these DC subsets to boost tumor-reactive T cell immunity in cancer patients.

Affinity-Based Purification of Polyisocyanopeptide Bioconjugates.

Water-soluble polyisocyanopeptides (PICs) are a new class of synthetic polymers that mimic natural protein-based filaments. Their unique semiflexible properties combined with a length of several hundred nanometers have recently enabled a number of biomedical applications ranging from tissue engineering to cancer immunotherapy. One crucial step toward the further development of PICs for these applications is the efficient and controlled synthesis and purification of PIC-biomolecule conjugates. Considering the large size of PICs and the biomolecules to be conjugated, conjugation reactions do usually not proceed to completion due to steric effects. As a consequence, purification of the reaction mixture is necessary to separate the obtained bioconjugates from unreacted biomolecules. As a direct result of the semiflexible nature of PICs, standard polymer and protein purification methods based on molecular weight have not been successful. Here, we introduce a new affinity-based purification method utilizing biotin as an affinity tag. PICs decorated with a controlled and tunable density of biotin molecules (biotinPICs) were efficiently bound to and eluted from a monoavidin resin in buffered aqueous solution. Using these biotinPICs, two different protein conjugates were synthesized, one carrying the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (PhoA) and the other T-cell activating anti-CD3 antibodies. The resulting biotinPIC-protein conjugates were successfully obtained in high purity (>90%) and without any loss of protein activity. The high purity greatly simplifies the analysis of biotinPIC bioconjugates, such as the determination of the average number of biomolecules conjugated per biotinPIC chain. Most importantly, it allows for the direct and straightforward application of the obtained bioconjugates in the desired applications. The new method developed may further be adapted for the purification of other advanced bioconjugates that are difficult to obtain in high purity with the available standard methods.

Tumoricidal activity of human dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are a family of professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that are able to initiate innate and adaptive immune responses against pathogens and tumor cells. The DC family is heterogeneous and is classically divided into two main subsets, each with its unique phenotypic and functional characteristics: myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs). Recent results have provided intriguing evidence that both DC subsets can also function as direct cytotoxic effector cells; in particular, against cancer cells. In this review, we delve into this understudied function of human DCs and discuss why these so-called killer DCs might become important tools in future cancer immunotherapies.

Selective Expression of the MAPK Phosphatase Dusp9/MKP-4 in Mouse Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells and Regulation of IFN-ß Production.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) efficiently produce large amounts of type I IFN in response to TLR7 and TLR9 ligands, whereas conventional DCs (cDCs) predominantly secrete high levels of the cytokines IL-10 and IL-12. The molecular basis underlying this distinct phenotype is not well understood. In this study, we identified the MAPK phosphatase Dusp9/MKP-4 by transcriptome analysis as selectively expressed in pDCs, but not cDCs. We confirmed the constitutive expression of Dusp9 at the protein level in pDCs generated in vitro by culture with Flt3 ligand and ex vivo in sorted splenic pDCs. Dusp9 expression was low in B220(-) bone marrow precursors and was upregulated during pDC differentiation, concomitant with established pDC markers. Higher expression of Dusp9 in pDCs correlated with impaired phosphorylation of the MAPK ERK1/2 upon TLR9 stimulation. Notably, Dusp9 was not expressed at detectable levels in human pDCs, although these displayed similarly impaired activation of ERK1/2 MAPK compared with cDCs. Enforced retroviral expression of Dusp9 in mouse GM-CSF-induced cDCs increased the expression of TLR9-induced IL-12p40 and IFN-ß, but not of IL-10. Conditional deletion of Dusp9 in pDCs was effectively achieved in Dusp9(flox/flox); CD11c-Cre mice at the mRNA and protein levels. However, the lack of Dusp9 in pDC did not restore ERK1/2 activation after TLR9 stimulation and only weakly affected IFN-ß and IL-12p40 production. Taken together, our results suggest that expression of Dusp9 is sufficient to impair ERK1/2 activation and enhance IFN-ß expression. However, despite selective expression in pDCs, Dusp9 is not essential for high-level IFN-ß production by these cells.

Preclinical exploration of combining plasmacytoid and myeloid dendritic cell vaccination with BRAF inhibition.

BACKGROUND: Melanoma is the most lethal type of skin cancer and its incidence is progressively increasing. The introductions of immunotherapy and targeted therapies have tremendously improved the treatment of melanoma. Selective inhibition of BRAF by vemurafenib results in objective clinical responses in around 50 % of patients suffering from BRAFV600 mutated melanoma. However, drug resistance often results in hampering long-term tumor control. Alternatively, immunotherapy by vaccination with natural dendritic cells (nDCs) demonstrated long-term tumor control in a proportion of patients. We postulate that the rapid tumor debulking by vemurafenib can synergize the long-term tumor control of nDC vaccination to result in an effective treatment modality in a large proportion of patients. Here, we investigated the feasibility of this combination by analyzing the effect of vemurafenib on the functionality of nDCs. METHODS: Plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) and myeloid DCs (mDCs) were isolated from PBMCs obtained from buffy coats from healthy volunteers or vemurafenib-treated melanoma patients. Maturation of pDCs, mDCs and immature monocyte-derived DCs was induced by R848 in the presence or absence of vemurafenib and analyzed by FACS. Cytokine production and T cell proliferation induced by mature DCs were analyzed. RESULTS: Vemurafenib inhibited maturation and cytokine production of highly purified nDCs of healthy volunteers resulting in diminished allogeneic T cell proliferation. This deleterious effect of vemurafenib on nDC functionality was absent when total PBMCs were exposed to vemurafenib. In patients receiving vemurafenib, nDC functionality and T cell allostimulatory capacity were unaffected. CONCLUSION: Although vemurafenib inhibited the functionality of purified nDC of healthy volunteers, this effect was not observed when nDCs were matured in the complete PBMC fraction. This might have been caused by increased vemurafenib uptake in absence of other cell types. In accordance, nDCs isolated from patients on active vemurafenib treatment showed no negative effects. In conclusion, our results pave the way for a combinatorial treatment strategy and, we propose that combining vemurafenib with nDC vaccination represent a powerful opportunity that deserves more investigation in the clinic.

Antigen cross-presentation by dendritic cell subsets: one general or all sergeants?

Antigen cross-presentation describes the process through which dendritic cells (DCs) acquire exogenous antigens for presentation on MHC class I molecules. The ability to cross-present has been thought of as a feature of specialized DC subsets. Emerging data, however, suggest that the cross-presenting ability of each DC subset is tuned by and dependent on several factors, such as DC location and activation status, and the type of antigen and inflammatory signals. Thus, we argue that capacity of cross-presentation is not an exclusive trait of one or several distinct DC subtypes, but rather a common feature of the DC family in both mice and humans. Understanding DC subset activation and antigen-presentation pathways might yield improved tools and targets to exploit the unique cross-presenting capacity of DCs in immunotherapy.

A Comparative Study of the T Cell Stimulatory and Polarizing Capacity of Human Primary Blood Dendritic Cell Subsets.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are central players of immune responses; they become activated upon infection or inflammation and migrate to lymph nodes, where they can initiate an antigen-specific immune response by activating naive T cells. Two major types of naturally occurring DCs circulate in peripheral blood, namely, myeloid and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs). Myeloid DCs (mDCs) can be subdivided based on the expression of either CD1c or CD141. These human DC subsets differ in surface marker expression, Toll-like receptor (TLR) repertoire, and transcriptional profile, suggesting functional differences between them. Here, we directly compared the capacity of human blood mDCs and pDCs to activate and polarize CD4(+) T cells. CD141(+) mDCs show an overall more mature phenotype over CD1c(+) mDC and pDCs; they produce less IL-10 and more IL-12 than CD1c(+) mDCs. Despite these differences, all subsets can induce the production of IFN-γ in naive CD4(+) T cells. CD1c(+) and CD141(+) mDCs especially induce a strong T helper 1 profile. Importantly, naive CD4(+) T cells are not polarized towards regulatory T cells by any subset. These findings further establish all three human blood DCs-despite their differences-as promising candidates for immunostimulatory effectors in cancer immunotherapy.

Protamine-stabilized RNA as an ex vivo stimulant of primary human dendritic cell subsets.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key in connecting innate and adaptive immunity. Their potential in inducing specific immune responses has made them interesting targets for immunotherapeutic approaches. Our research group was the first to exploit the naturally occurring myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) in therapeutic vaccination trials against melanoma. To develop primary DC subsets as an optimal vaccine, the identification of a clinically applicable adjuvant activating both subsets is required. Although the expression of pathogen recognition receptors differs distinctly between the DC subsets, both pDCs and mDCs can respond to single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) via Toll-like receptors 7 and 8, respectively. Since ssRNA is easily degraded by RNases, we stabilized anionic RNA by complexing it with the positively charged protein protamine. This leads to the formation of protamine-RNA complexes with varying features depending on ionic content. We subsequently investigated the immunostimulatory effect of complexes that formed various salt concentrations on purified DC subsets. Both mDCs and pDCs upregulated maturation markers and produced pro-inflammatory cytokines in a dose-dependent way to the protamine-RNA complexes. This was dependent on endosomal acidification and correlated partly with the uptake of protamine-RNA complexes. Furthermore, both DC subsets induced T cell proliferation and IFN gamma secretion in a beneficial ratio to IL-10. These results indicate that protamine-RNA complexes can be used to stimulate human mDC and pDC ex vivo for use in immunotherapeutic settings.

Human plasmacytoid dendritic cells efficiently cross-present exogenous Ags to CD8+ T cells despite lower Ag uptake than myeloid dendritic cell subsets.

In human peripheral blood, 4 populations of dendritic cells (DCs) can be distinguished, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and CD16(+), CD1c(+), and BDCA-3(+) myeloid DCs (mDCs), each with distinct functional characteristics. DCs have the unique capacity to cross-present exogenously encountered antigens (Ags) to CD8(+) T cells. Here we studied the ability of all 4 blood DC subsets to take up, process, and present tumor Ags to T cells. Although pDCs take up less Ags than CD1c(+) and BDCA3(+) mDCs, pDCs induce potent Ag-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell responses. We show that pDCs can preserve Ags for prolonged periods of time and on stimulation show strong induction of both MHC class I and II, which explains their efficient activation of both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. Furthermore, pDCs cross-present soluble and cell-associated tumor Ags to cytotoxic T lymphocytes equally well as BDCA3(+) mDCs. These findings, and the fact that pDCs outnumber BDCA3(+) mDCs, both in peripheral blood and lymph nodes, together with their potent IFN-I production, known to activate both components of the innate and adaptive immune system, put human pDCs forward as potent activators of CD8(+) T cells in antitumor responses. Our findings may therefore have important consequences for the development of antitumor immunotherapy.

Targeting uptake receptors on human plasmacytoid dendritic cells triggers antigen cross-presentation and robust type I IFN secretion.

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) play a crucial role in initiating immune responses by secreting large amounts of type I IFNs. Currently, the role for human pDCs as professional APCs in the cross-presentation of exogenous Ags is being re-evaluated. Human pDCs are equipped with a broad repertoire of Ag uptake receptors and an efficient Ag-processing machinery. In this study, we set out to investigate which receptor can best be deployed to deliver Ag to pDCs for Ag (cross-)presentation. We show that targeting nanoparticles to pDCs via the C-type lectins DEC-205, DC immunoreceptor, blood DC Ag-2, or the FcR CD32 led to uptake, processing, and (cross-) presentation of encapsulated Ag to both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. This makes these receptors good candidates for potential in vivo targeting of pDCs by nanocarriers. Notably, the coencapsulated TLR7 agonist R848 efficiently activated pDCs, resulting in phenotypical maturation as well as robust IFN-α and TNF-α production. Taken together, their cross-presentation capacity and type I IFN production to further activate components of both the innate and adaptive immune system mark pDCs as inducers of potent antitumor responses. These findings pave the way to actively recruit human pDCs for cellular cancer immunotherapy.

Human plasmacytoid dendritic cells are equipped with antigen-presenting and tumoricidal capacities.

Human plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) represent a highly specialized naturally occurring dendritic-cell subset and are the main producers of type I interferons (IFNs) in response to viral infections. We show that human pDCs activated by the preventive vaccine FSME specifically up-regulate CD56 on their surface, a marker that was thought to be specific for NK cells and associated with cytolytic effector functions. We observed that FSME-activated pDCs specifically lysed NK target cells and expressed cytotoxic molecules, such as tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and granzyme B. Elevated levels of these molecules coincided with the expression of CD56, indicative for skewing human pDCs toward an interferon-producing killer DC subset. Detailed phenotypical and functional analysis revealed that pDCs attained a mature phenotype, secreted proinflammatory cytokines, and had the capacity to present antigens and stimulate T cells. Here, we report on the generation of CD56(+) human interferon producing killer pDCs with the capacity to present antigens. These findings aid in deciphering the role for pDCs in antitumor immunity and present a promising prospect of developing antitumor therapy using pDCs.

The C-type lectin receptor CLEC9A mediates antigen uptake and (cross-)presentation by human blood BDCA3+ myeloid dendritic cells.

CLEC9A is a recently discovered C-type lectin receptor involved in sensing necrotic cells. In humans, this receptor is selectively expressed by BDCA3(+) myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs), which have been proposed to be the main human cross-presenting mDCs and may represent the human homologue of murine CD8(+) DCs. In mice, it was demonstrated that antigens delivered with antibodies to CLEC9A are presented by CD8(+) DCs to both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells and induce antitumor immunity in a melanoma model. Here we assessed the ability of CLEC9A to mediate antigen presentation by human BDCA3(+) mDCs, which represent < 0.05% of peripheral blood leukocytes. We demonstrate that CLEC9A is only expressed on immature BDCA3(+) mDCs and that cell surface expression is lost after TLR-mediated maturation. CLEC9A triggering via antibody binding rapidly induces receptor internalization but does not affect TLR-induced cytokine production or expression of costimulatory molecules. More importantly, antigens delivered via CLEC9A antibodies to BDCA3(+) mDCs are presented by both MHC class I (cross-presentation) and MHC class II to antigen-specific T cells. We conclude that CLEC9A is a promising target for in vivo antigen delivery in humans to increase the efficiency of vaccines against infectious or malignant diseases.

Cartilage-derived cells display heterogeneous pericellular matrix synthesis in agarose microgels.

The pericellular matrix (PCM) surrounding chondrocytes is essential for articular cartilage tissue engineering. As the current isolation methods to obtain chondrocytes with their PCM (chondrons) result in a heterogeneous mixture of chondrocytes and chondrons, regenerating the PCM using a tissue engineering approach could prove beneficial. In this study, we aimed to discern the behavior of articular chondrocytes (ACs) in regenerating the PCM in such an approach and whether this would also be true for articular cartilage-derived progenitor cells (ACPCs), as an alternative cell source. Bovine ACs and ACPCs were encapsulated in agarose microgels using droplet-based microfluidics. ACs were stimulated with TGF-ß1 and dexamethasone and ACPCs were sequentially stimulated with BMP-9 followed by TGF-ß1 and dexamethasone. After 0, 3, 5, and 10 days of culture, PCM components, type-VI collagen and perlecan, and ECM component, type-II collagen, were assessed using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. Both ACs and ACPCs synthesized the PCM before the ECM. It was seen for the first time that synthesis of type-VI collagen always preceded perlecan. While the PCM synthesized by ACs resembled native chondrons after only 5 days of culture, ACPCs often made less well-structured PCMs. Both cell types showed variations between individual cells and donors. On one hand, this was more prominent in ACPCs, but also a subset of ACPCs showed superior PCM and ECM regeneration, suggesting that isolating these cells may potentially improve cartilage repair strategies.

Unraveling IFN-I response dynamics and TNF crosstalk in the pathophysiology of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Introduction: The innate immune system serves the crucial first line of defense against a wide variety of potential threats, during which the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-I and TNFα are key. This astonishing power to fight invaders, however, comes at the cost of risking IFN-I-related pathologies, such as observed during autoimmune diseases, during which IFN-I and TNFα response dynamics are dysregulated. Therefore, these response dynamics must be tightly regulated, and precisely matched with the potential threat. This regulation is currently far from understood. Methods: Using droplet-based microfluidics and ODE modeling, we studied the fundamentals of single-cell decision-making upon TLR signaling in human primary immune cells (n = 23). Next, using biologicals used for treating autoimmune diseases [i.e., anti-TNFα, and JAK inhibitors], we unraveled the crosstalk between IFN-I and TNFα signaling dynamics. Finally, we studied primary immune cells isolated from SLE patients (n = 8) to provide insights into SLE pathophysiology. Results: single-cell IFN-I and TNFα response dynamics display remarkable differences, yet both being highly heterogeneous. Blocking TNFα signaling increases the percentage of IFN-I-producing cells, while blocking IFN-I signaling decreases the percentage of TNFα-producing cells. Single-cell decision-making in SLE patients is dysregulated, pointing towards a dysregulated crosstalk between IFN-I and TNFα response dynamics. Discussion: We provide a solid droplet-based microfluidic platform to study inherent immune secretory behaviors, substantiated by ODE modeling, which can challenge the conceptualization within and between different immune signaling systems. These insights will build towards an improved fundamental understanding on single-cell decision-making in health and disease.