Isthmin 1 identifies a subset of lung hematopoietic stem cells and it is associated with systemic inflammation

Hematopoiesis is a highly regulated process and it’s widely described in bone marrow, the classical niche for hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The lungs are a novel niche of HSCs, as recently described by Lefrançais in 2017, however, little is known about the nature of these cells. Isthmin 1 (ISM1) is a secreted molecule important in developmental hematopoiesis in zebrafish; moreover, it is known that murine lungs express high levels of ISM1 and its secretion is altered after LPS challenge. In this work we performed multiparametric flow cytometry identifying a subpopulation of lung-resident HSCs expressing ISM1. Then we wanted to assess if HSCs ISM1+ cells are affected under inflammatory insults. Acute infection in mice with Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed that lung-derived HSCs ISM1+ are increased, indicating that the lung-HSCs are perturbed. Due to our model produced systemic inflammation we sought to investigate whether circulating ISM1+ cells were affected, we found that the percentage and absolute numbers of ISM1+ cells in blood were slightly diminished. Since ISM1 is a secreted molecule we evaluated its plasmatic levels by ELISA. We discovered a reduction in ISM1 plasmatic levels during murine sepsis with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Then, we sought to analyze ISM1 levels in human inflammation; we retrieved samples from pediatric individuals with sepsis and adult patients with 2th and 3th grade burn injuries, and in both cases, we detected reduced levels of plasmatic ISM1. Our data suggest that ISM1 is likely a regulator of hematopoiesis in the lung but also may have a function in the regulation of systemic inflammation in mice and humans. We suggest that ISM1 is a novel biomarker of systemic inflammation.