Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Front Immunol. 2022 Jun 10;13:902017. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.902017. eCollection 2022.
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) technology is still relatively new in the field of gastric cancer immunology but gaining significant traction. This technology now provides unprecedented insights into the intratumoral and intertumoral heterogeneities at the immunological, cellular, and molecular levels. Within the last few years, a volume of publications reported the usefulness of scRNAseq technology in identifying thus far elusive immunological mechanisms that may promote and impede gastric cancer development. These studies analyzed datasets generated from primary human gastric cancer tissues, metastatic ascites fluid from gastric cancer patients, and laboratory-generated data from and models of gastric diseases. In this review, we overview the exciting findings from scRNAseq datasets that uncovered the role of critical immune cells, including T cells, B cells, myeloid cells, mast cells, ILC2s, and other inflammatory stromal cells, like fibroblasts and endothelial cells. In addition, we also provide a synopsis of the initial scRNAseq findings on the interesting epithelial cell responses to inflammation. In summary, these new studies have implicated roles for T and B cells and subsets like NKT cells in tumor development and progression. The current studies identified diverse subsets of macrophages and mast cells in the tumor microenvironment, however, additional studies to determine their roles in promoting cancer growth are needed. Some groups specifically focus on the less prevalent ILC2 cell type that may contribute to early cancer development. ScRNAseq analysis also reveals that stromal cells, e.g., fibroblasts and endothelial cells, regulate inflammation and promote metastasis, making them key targets for future investigations. While evaluating the outcomes, we also highlight the gaps in the current findings and provide an assessment of what this technology holds for gastric cancer research in the coming years. With scRNAseq technology expanding rapidly, we stress the need for periodic review of the findings and assess the available scRNAseq analytical tools to guide future work on immunological mechanisms of gastric carcinogenesis. .
单细胞 RNA 测序 (scRNAseq) 技术在胃癌免疫学领域仍然相对较新，但正在获得显著的关注。这项技术现在为肿瘤内和肿瘤间的免疫、细胞和分子水平的异质性提供了前所未有的深入了解。在过去的几年中，大量的出版物报告了 scRNAseq 技术在识别迄今为止难以捉摸的免疫机制方面的有用性，这些机制可能促进和阻碍胃癌的发展。这些研究分析了从原发性人类胃癌组织、胃癌患者转移性腹水以及实验室生成的和 模型中生成的数据集。在这篇综述中，我们概述了 scRNAseq 数据集揭示关键免疫细胞（包括 T 细胞、B 细胞、髓样细胞、肥大细胞、ILC2 细胞和其他炎症性基质细胞，如成纤维细胞和内皮细胞）作用的令人兴奋的发现。此外，我们还提供了 scRNAseq 对炎症中有趣的上皮细胞反应的初步发现的概述。总之，这些新的研究表明 T 和 B 细胞以及 NKT 细胞等亚群在肿瘤发生和进展中起作用。目前的研究在肿瘤微环境中鉴定了多种巨噬细胞和肥大细胞亚群，但需要进一步研究来确定它们在促进癌症生长中的作用。一些小组特别关注不太常见的 ILC2 细胞类型，它可能有助于早期癌症的发展。scRNAseq 分析还表明，基质细胞（如成纤维细胞和内皮细胞）调节炎症并促进转移，使其成为未来研究的关键目标。在评估结果时，我们还强调了当前研究结果中的差距，并评估了这项技术在未来几年对胃癌研究的意义。随着 scRNAseq 技术的快速发展，我们强调需要定期审查研究结果，并评估现有的 scRNAseq 分析工具，以指导未来关于胃癌发生免疫机制的研究。
