Department of Radiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, No.169 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, 430071, China.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan University, No.169 Donghu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, 430071, China.
J Transl Med. 2023 Aug 29;21(1):580. doi: 10.1186/s12967-023-04395-x.
To gain deeper insights into the microenvironment of breast cancer, we utilized GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling (DSP) technology to analyze transcripts from 107 regions of interest in 65 untreated breast cancer tissue samples. Our study revealed spatial heterogeneity in the expression of marker genes in tumor cell enriched, immune cell enriched, and normal epithelial areas. We evaluated a total of 55 prognostic markers in tumor cell enriched regions and 15 in immune cell enriched regions, identifying that tumor cell enriched regions had higher levels of follicular helper T cells, resting dendritic cells, and plasma cells than immune cell enriched regions, while the levels of resting CD4 memory in T cells and regulatory (Treg) T cells were lower. Additionally, we analyzed the heterogeneity of HLA gene families, immunological checkpoints, and metabolic genes in these areas. Through univariate Cox analysis, we identified 5 prognosis-related metabolic genes. Furthermore, we conducted immunostaining experiments, including EMILIN2, SURF4, and LYPLA1, to verify our findings. Our investigation into the spatial heterogeneity of the breast cancer tumor environment has led to the discovery of specific diagnostic and prognostic markers in breast cancer.
为了更深入地了解乳腺癌的微环境,我们利用 GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling (DSP) 技术分析了 65 个未经治疗的乳腺癌组织样本中 107 个感兴趣区域的转录本。我们的研究揭示了肿瘤细胞富集区、免疫细胞富集区和正常上皮区中标记基因表达的空间异质性。我们评估了肿瘤细胞富集区中的 55 个预后标志物和免疫细胞富集区中的 15 个,发现肿瘤细胞富集区的滤泡辅助 T 细胞、静止树突状细胞和浆细胞水平高于免疫细胞富集区,而静止 CD4 记忆 T 细胞和调节性 (Treg) T 细胞水平较低。此外,我们分析了这些区域中 HLA 基因家族、免疫检查点和代谢基因的异质性。通过单变量 Cox 分析,我们确定了 5 个与预后相关的代谢基因。此外,我们还进行了免疫染色实验,包括 EMILIN2、SURF4 和 LYPLA1,以验证我们的发现。我们对乳腺癌肿瘤环境的空间异质性的研究导致了在乳腺癌中发现了特定的诊断和预后标志物。