Jinan University, Guangzou, Guangdong Province, China.
Center for Systemic Inflammation Research (CSIR), School of Preclinical Medicine, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, Guangxi Province, China.
J Immunol Res. 2022 Aug 22;2022:6378567. doi: 10.1155/2022/6378567. eCollection 2022.
Although substantial progress has been made in the immunotherapy of kidney cancer, its efficacy varies from patient to patient, with many responding suboptimally or even developing metastases. Thus, research on the tumour immune microenvironment and immune cell heterogeneity is essential for kidney cancer treatment. In this study, natural killer (NK) cell populations were isolated using signature genes from the single-cell sequencing data of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and normal kidney tissues and divided into three subpopulations according to the differences in gene expression profiles: NK(GZMH), NK(EGR1), and NK(CAPG). Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that NK(EGR1) and NK(CAPG) were closely related to tumour metastasis, as shown by kidney cancer metastasis to Hodgkin lymphoma, T-cell leukaemia, and Ki-1+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Thus, these two NK cell subpopulations are promising targets for inhibiting metastasis in ccRCC. Our findings revealed heterogeneity in the infiltrating NK cells of kidney cancer, which can serve as a reference for the mechanisms underlying metastasis in kidney cancer.
尽管在肾癌的免疫治疗方面已经取得了实质性进展，但疗效因人而异，许多患者反应不佳，甚至发生转移。因此，研究肿瘤免疫微环境和免疫细胞异质性对于肾癌的治疗至关重要。在这项研究中，我们使用单细胞测序数据中肾透明细胞癌（ccRCC）和正常肾脏组织的特征基因分离了自然杀伤（NK）细胞群体，并根据基因表达谱的差异将其分为三个亚群：NK(GZMH)、NK(EGR1)和 NK(CAPG)。基因集富集分析表明，NK(EGR1)和 NK(CAPG)与肿瘤转移密切相关，如肾透明细胞癌转移至霍奇金淋巴瘤、T 细胞白血病和 Ki-1+间变性大细胞淋巴瘤。因此，这两个 NK 细胞亚群是抑制 ccRCC 转移的有前途的靶点。我们的研究结果揭示了肾癌浸润 NK 细胞的异质性，可为肾癌转移的机制提供参考。
