Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.
Medical Science Training Program, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Commun Biol. 2021 Jan 27;4(1):122. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01625-6.
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is one of the most immunologically distinct tumor types due to high response rate to immunotherapies, despite low tumor mutational burden. To characterize the tumor immune microenvironment of ccRCC, we applied single-cell-RNA sequencing (SCRS) along with T-cell-receptor (TCR) sequencing to map the transcriptomic heterogeneity of 25,688 individual CD45 lymphoid and myeloid cells in matched tumor and blood from three patients with ccRCC. We also included 11,367 immune cells from four other individuals derived from the kidney and peripheral blood to facilitate the identification and assessment of ccRCC-specific differences. There is an overall increase in CD8 T-cell and macrophage populations in tumor-infiltrated immune cells compared to normal renal tissue. We further demonstrate the divergent cell transcriptional states for tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells and identify a MKI67 + proliferative subpopulation being a potential culprit for the progression of ccRCC. Using the SCRS gene expression, we found preferential prediction of clinical outcomes and pathological diseases by subcluster assignment. With further characterization and functional validation, our findings may reveal certain subpopulations of immune cells amenable to therapeutic intervention.
透明细胞肾细胞癌 (ccRCC) 是一种最具免疫特异性的肿瘤类型之一,尽管其肿瘤突变负担较低,但对免疫疗法的反应率很高。为了描述 ccRCC 的肿瘤免疫微环境,我们应用单细胞 RNA 测序 (SCRS) 结合 T 细胞受体 (TCR) 测序,对来自 3 名 ccRCC 患者的匹配肿瘤和血液中的 25688 个单独的 CD45 淋巴样和髓样细胞进行转录组异质性图谱绘制。我们还纳入了来自另外 4 个人的 11367 个来自肾脏和外周血的免疫细胞,以促进 ccRCC 特异性差异的识别和评估。与正常肾组织相比,肿瘤浸润免疫细胞中 CD8 T 细胞和巨噬细胞群体总体增加。我们进一步证明了肿瘤浸润 CD8 T 细胞的不同细胞转录状态,并确定了一个 MKI67+增殖亚群可能是 ccRCC 进展的罪魁祸首。使用 SCRS 基因表达,我们发现通过亚群分配可以优先预测临床结果和病理疾病。通过进一步的特征描述和功能验证,我们的发现可能揭示某些免疫细胞亚群适合治疗干预。
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