Immune profiling of chronic recurrent non-specific parotitis using CyTOF: a preliminary exploratory study.
- 1Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Peking University School of Basic Medical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Vascular Homeostasis and Remodeling, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China.
- 2Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Peking University School of Basic Medical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Vascular Homeostasis and Remodeling, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
Chronic recurrent non-specific parotitis (CRNP) is characterized by recurrent parotid swelling and pain without identifiable obstructive lesions or systemic autoimmune diseases. The immunological features underlying CRNP remain poorly defined.Methods
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 5 patients with CRNP and 6 healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed using high-dimensional single-cell cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF). This pilot study was designed as an exploratory and descriptive analysis. Unsupervised clustering was used to construct a peripheral immune cell atlas, followed by nominal group comparisons, phenotypic analyses of selected subsets, and descriptive correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses.Results
At the major lineage level, the relative proportions of B cells, CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, myeloid cells, and natural killer (NK) cells were largely comparable between CRNP patients and HCs, except for a nominally lower proportion of double-negative T cells in CRNP. At the subset level, several exploratory differences were observed. These included nominally higher proportions of CXCR3highCD127high CD4⁺ central memory T cells and CD4⁺ terminally differentiated effector memory T cells re-expressing CD45RA, together with nominally lower proportions of naïve CD4⁺ T cells, naïve CD8⁺ T cells, and regulatory T cells. Exploratory phenotypic analyses further suggested variation in activation-, senescence-, and immune checkpoint-associated markers. Within the myeloid compartment, the relative proportion of conventional dendritic cells was nominally higher, whereas classical monocytes were nominally lower. Correlation and ROC analyses were performed only as descriptive within-cohort visualizations and should not be interpreted as evidence of immune cell interactions or diagnostic performance.Conclusions
This exploratory CyTOF-based pilot study provides a preliminary descriptive overview of peripheral immune cell variation in CRNP. Given the small sample size, lack of multiple-testing correction, and potential demographic and technical confounders, these findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating and require validation in larger, age- and sex-matched, batch-controlled cohorts.
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BibTeX
@article{nan2026immune,
title = {{Immune profiling of chronic recurrent non-specific parotitis using CyTOF: a preliminary exploratory study.}},
author = {Han Nan and Haowei Yu and Shitong Liu and Haibing Li and Congying Ma and Xin Cong and Jiazeng Su},
journal = {BMC oral health},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12903-026-09458-1},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963539},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Immune profiling of chronic recurrent non-specific parotitis using CyTOF: a preliminary exploratory study.
AU - Han Nan
AU - Haowei Yu
AU - Shitong Liu
AU - Haibing Li
AU - Congying Ma
AU - Xin Cong
AU - Jiazeng Su
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/04
JO - BMC oral health
DO - 10.1186/s12903-026-09458-1
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963539
AB - Background Chronic recurrent non-specific parotitis (CRNP) is characterized by recurrent parotid swelling and pain without identifiable obstructive lesions or systemic autoimmune diseases. The immunological features underlying CRNP remain poorly defined.Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 5 patients with CRNP and 6 healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed using high-dimensional single-cell cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF). This pilot study was designed as an exploratory and descriptive analysis. Unsupervised clustering was used to construct a peripheral immune cell atlas, followed by nominal group comparisons, phenotypic analyses of selected subsets, and descriptive correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses.Results At the major lineage level, the relative proportions of B cells, CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, myeloid cells, and natural killer (NK) cells were largely comparable between CRNP patients and HCs, except for a nominally lower proportion of double-negative T cells in CRNP. At the subset level, several exploratory differences were observed. These included nominally higher proportions of CXCR3highCD127high CD4⁺ central memory T cells and CD4⁺ terminally differentiated effector memory T cells re-expressing CD45RA, together with nominally lower proportions of naïve CD4⁺ T cells, naïve CD8⁺ T cells, and regulatory T cells. Exploratory phenotypic analyses further suggested variation in activation-, senescence-, and immune checkpoint-associated markers. Within the myeloid compartment, the relative proportion of conventional dendritic cells was nominally higher, whereas classical monocytes were nominally lower. Correlation and ROC analyses were performed only as descriptive within-cohort visualizations and should not be interpreted as evidence of immune cell interactions or diagnostic performance.Conclusions This exploratory CyTOF-based pilot study provides a preliminary descriptive overview of peripheral immune cell variation in CRNP. Given the small sample size, lack of multiple-testing correction, and potential demographic and technical confounders, these findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating and require validation in larger, age- and sex-matched, batch-controlled cohorts.
SN - 1472-6831
ER -