Shen Wenjun, Liu Cheng, Hu Yunfei, Lei Yuanfan, Wong Hau-San, Wu Si, Zhou Xin Maizie
Department of Bioinformatics, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
Chaoshan Branch of State Key Laboratory for Esophageal Cancer Prevention and Treatment, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China.
bioRxiv. 2025 Mar 11:2024.04.07.588458. doi: 10.1101/2024.04.07.588458.
We introduce CSsingle, a novel method that enhances the decomposition of bulk and spatial transcriptomic (ST) data by addressing key challenges in cellular heterogeneity. CSsingle applies cell size correction using ERCC spike-in controls, enabling it to account for variations in RNA content between cell types and achieve accurate bulk data deconvolution. In addition, it enables fine-scale analysis for ST data, advancing our understanding of tissue architecture and cellular interactions, particularly in complex microenvironments. We provide a unified tool for integrating bulk and ST with scRNA-seq data, advancing the study of complex biological systems and disease processes. The benchmark results demonstrate that CSsingle outperforms existing methods in accuracy and robustness. Validation using more than 700 normal and diseased samples from gastroesophageal tissue reveals the predominant presence of mosaic columnar cells (MCCs), which exhibit a gastric and intestinal mosaic phenotype in Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), in contrast to their very low detectable levels in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and normal gastroesophageal tissue. We revealed a dynamic relationship between MCCs and squamous cells during immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI)-based treatment in EAC patients, suggesting MCC expression signatures as predictive and prognostic markers of immunochemotherapy outcomes. Our findings reveal the critical role of MCC in the treatment of EAC and its potential as a biomarker to predict outcomes of immunochemotherapy, providing insight into tumor epithelial plasticity to guide personalized immunotherapeutic strategies.
我们介绍了CSsingle,这是一种通过应对细胞异质性方面的关键挑战来增强批量和空间转录组(ST)数据分解的新方法。CSsingle使用ERCC加标对照进行细胞大小校正,使其能够考虑细胞类型之间RNA含量的差异,并实现准确的批量数据反卷积。此外,它还能对ST数据进行精细分析,增进我们对组织结构和细胞相互作用的理解,特别是在复杂的微环境中。我们提供了一个将批量和ST与单细胞RNA测序(scRNA-seq)数据整合的统一工具,推动了对复杂生物系统和疾病过程的研究。基准测试结果表明,CSsingle在准确性和稳健性方面优于现有方法。使用来自胃食管组织的700多个正常和患病样本进行验证,发现镶嵌柱状细胞(MCCs)占主导地位,这些细胞在巴雷特食管和食管腺癌(EAC)中呈现胃和肠的镶嵌表型,而在食管鳞状细胞癌和正常胃食管组织中其可检测水平非常低。我们揭示了EAC患者基于免疫检查点抑制剂(ICI)治疗期间MCCs与鳞状细胞之间的动态关系,表明MCC表达特征可作为免疫化疗结果的预测和预后标志物。我们的研究结果揭示了MCC在EAC治疗中的关键作用及其作为预测免疫化疗结果的生物标志物的潜力,为肿瘤上皮可塑性提供了见解,以指导个性化免疫治疗策略。