Medical Science Research Center, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, 100730, Beijing, China.
CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, College of Future Technology, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, China.
Nat Commun. 2021 Jan 4;12(1):87. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20358-y.
Anterior vaginal prolapse (AVP) is the most common form of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and has deleterious effects on women's health. Despite recent advances in AVP diagnosis and treatment, a cell atlas of the vaginal wall in AVP has not been constructed. Here, we employ single-cell RNA-seq to construct a transcriptomic atlas of 81,026 individual cells in the vaginal wall from AVP and control samples and identify 11 cell types. We reveal aberrant gene expression in diverse cell types in AVP. Extracellular matrix (ECM) dysregulation and immune reactions involvement are identified in both non-immune and immune cell types. In addition, we find that several transcription factors associated with ECM and immune regulation are activated in AVP. Furthermore, we reveal dysregulated cell-cell communication patterns in AVP. Taken together, this work provides a valuable resource for deciphering the cellular heterogeneity and the molecular mechanisms underlying severe AVP.
前阴道脱垂（AVP）是最常见的盆腔器官脱垂（POP）形式，对女性健康有不良影响。尽管最近在 AVP 的诊断和治疗方面取得了进展，但尚未构建 AVP 阴道壁的细胞图谱。在这里，我们采用单细胞 RNA-seq 技术，构建了来自 AVP 和对照样本的 81026 个单个阴道壁细胞的转录组图谱，并鉴定出 11 种细胞类型。我们揭示了 AVP 中不同细胞类型的异常基因表达。在非免疫和免疫细胞类型中均发现细胞外基质（ECM）失调和免疫反应参与。此外，我们发现与 ECM 和免疫调节相关的几个转录因子在 AVP 中被激活。此外，我们揭示了 AVP 中失调的细胞间通讯模式。总之，这项工作为解析严重 AVP 的细胞异质性和分子机制提供了有价值的资源。
