4.8 Article

Single-Nucleus Transcriptome Profiling of Locally Advanced Cervical Squamous Cell Cancer Identifies Neural-Like Progenitor Program Associated with the Efficacy of Radiotherapy

Journal

ADVANCED SCIENCE
Volume -, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202300348

Keywords

cancer-associated fibroblasts; cervical squamous cell cancer; neural-like progenitor; radiotherapy; single-nucleus transcriptome

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Radiotherapy is the primary method for treating locally advanced CSCC. However, a significant number of patients do not respond well to this treatment. A study using single-nucleus RNA-seq reveals that the expression of a neural-like progenitor program is significantly increased in tumor cells after radiotherapy, especially in nonresponding patients. Further analysis confirms the association of this program with poor prognosis in CSCC patients, and in vitro experiments demonstrate that downregulation of a key gene from this program is associated with decreased cell growth and increased radiation sensitivity. Immunohistochemical staining validates the role of key genes from the immunomodulatory program as regulators of radiosensitivity. These findings suggest that the expression of NRP in CSCC can predict the efficacy of radiotherapy.
Radiotherapy is the first-line treatment for locally advanced cervical squamous cell cancer (CSCC). However, & AP;50% of patients fail to respond to therapy and, in some cases, tumors progress after radical radiotherapy. Here, single-nucleus RNA-seq is performed to construct high-resolution molecular landscapes of various cell types in CSCC before and during radiotherapy, to better understand radiotherapy related molecular responses within tumor microenvironment. The results show that expression levels of a neural-like progenitor (NRP) program in tumor cells are significantly higher after radiotherapy and these are enriched in the tumors of nonresponding patients. The enrichment of the NRP program in malignant cells from the tumors of nonresponders in an independent cohort analyzed by bulk RNA-seq is validated. In addition, an analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset shows that NRP expression is associated with poor prognosis in CSCC patients. In vitro experiments on the CSCC cell line demonstrate that downregulation of neuregulin 1 (NRG1), a key gene from NRP program, is associated with decreased cell growth and increased sensitivity to radiation. Immunohistochemistry staining in cohort 3 validated key genes, NRG1 and immediate early response 3 from immunomodulatory program, as radiosensitivity regulators. The findings reveal that the expression of NRP in CSCC can be used to predict the efficacy of radiotherapy.

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