4.8 Article

Single-cell RNA-sequencing atlas reveals an MDK-dependent immunosuppressive environment in ErbB pathway-mutated gallbladder cancer

Journal

JOURNAL OF HEPATOLOGY
Volume 75, Issue 5, Pages 1128-1141

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2021.06.023

Keywords

Gallbladder carcinoma; Single-cell RNA-sequencing; Tumor heterogene-ity; ErbB pathway mutations; Intercellular crosstalk

Funding

  1. National Natural Science Foundation of China [2019XH004, 81874181, 31501127, 31620103910, 91440203, 81773043, 31601021, 91940305, 82073206, 81772512, 31930022, 31771476, 12026608]
  2. National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFA0505500, 2021YFE0203300]
  3. Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB38040400]
  4. Shanghai Pujiang Program [2020PJD033]
  5. Emerging Frontier Program of Hospital Development Center [SHDC12018107]
  6. General Surgery Construction Program of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission [2017ZZ02011]
  7. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Biliary Tract Disease Research Foundation [17DZ2260200]
  8. Peak Plateau Discipline Construction Project of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine [20181808]
  9. Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader [19XD1422700]
  10. Shuguang Program of Shanghai Education Development Foundation [20SG14]
  11. Shanghai Municipal Education Commission [20SG14]
  12. National Science and Technology Major Projects for Major New Drugs Innovation and Development [2019ZX09301-158]
  13. Basic Research Project of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [20JC1419100, 20JC1419101, 20JC1419102]
  14. SJTU Transmed Awards Research Program [20190202]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

This study identified 16 cell types in GBC, with epithelial cells, M2 macrophages, and regulatory T cells predominant in tumors with ErbB pathway mutations. Elevated MDK levels were associated with reduced overall survival in patients, and it was found to promote immunosuppressive macrophage differentiation in the tumor microenvironment. The study provides insights into novel cellular and molecular targets for cancer therapy, highlighting the role of ErbB pathway mutations in modulating the immune response in GBC.
Background & Aims: Our previous genomic whole-exome sequencing (WES) data identified the key ErbB pathway mutations that play an essential role in regulating the malignancy of gallbladder cancer (GBC). Herein, we tested the hypothesis that individual cellular components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in GBC function differentially to participate in ErbB pathway mutation-dependent tumor progression. Methods: We engaged single-cell RNA-sequencing to reveal transcriptomic heterogeneity and intercellular crosstalk from 13 human GBCs and adjacent normal tissues. In addition, we performed WES analysis to reveal the genomic variations related to tumor malignancy. A variety of bulk RNA-sequencing, immunohistochemical staining, immunofluorescence staining and functional experiments were employed to study the difference between tissues with or without ErbB pathway mutations. Results: We identified 16 cell types from a total of 114,927 cells, in which epithelial cells, M2 macrophages, and regulatory T cells were predominant in tumors with ErbB pathway mutations. Furthermore, epithelial cell subtype 1, 2 and 3 were mainly found in adenocarcinoma and subtype 4 was present in adenosquamous carcinoma. The tumors with ErbB pathway mutations harbored larger populations of epithelial cell subtype 1 and 2, and expressed higher levels of secreted midkine (MDK) than tumors without ErbB pathway mutations. Increased MDK resulted in an interaction with its receptor LRP1, which is expressed by tumor-infiltrating macrophages, and promoted immunosuppressive macrophage differentiation. Moreover, the crosstalk between macrophage-secreted CXCL10 and its receptor CXCR3 on regulatory T cells was induced in GBC with ErbB pathway mutations. Elevated MDK was correlated with poor overall survival in patients with GBC. Conclusions: This study has provided valuable insights into transcriptomic heterogeneity and the global cellular network in the TME, which coordinately functions to promote the progres-sion of GBC with ErbB pathway mutations; thus, unveiling novel cellular and molecular targets for cancer therapy. Lay summary: We employed single-cell RNA-sequencing and functional assays to uncover the transcriptomic heterogeneity and intercellular crosstalk present in gallbladder cancer. We found that ErbB pathway mutations reduced anti-cancer im-munity and led to cancer development. ErbB pathway mutations resulted in immunosuppressive macrophage differentiation and regulatory T cell activation, explaining the reduced anti-cancer immunity and worse overall survival observed in patients with these mutations. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Association for the Study of the Liver.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.8
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available