Project description:Abstract from manuscript Glioblastoma develops an immunosuppressive microenvironment that fosters tumorigenesis and resistance to current therapeutic strategies. Here we use multiplexed tissue imaging and single-cell RNA-sequencing to characterize the composition, spatial organization, and clinical significance of extracellular purinergic signaling in glioblastoma. We show that glioblastoma exhibit strong expression of CD39 and CD73 ectoenzymes, correlating with increased adenosine levels. Microglia are the predominant source of CD39, while CD73 is principally expressed by tumor cells, particularly in tumors with amplification of EGFR and astrocyte-like differentiation. Spatially-resolved single-cell analyses demonstrate strong spatial correlation between tumor CD73 and microglial CD39, and that their spatial proximity is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Together, this data reveals that tumor CD73 expression correlates with tumor genotype, lineage differentiation, and functional states, and that core purine regulatory enzymes expressed by neoplastic and tumor-associated myeloid cells interact to promote a distinctive adenosine-rich signaling niche and immunosuppressive microenvironment potentially amenable to therapeutic targeting.
Project description:Using a 3D co-culture model, we identified significant sub-type-specific changes in the gene expression, metabolic, and therapeutic sensitivity profiles of breast cancer cells in contact with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). CAF-induced gene expression signatures predicted clinical outcome and immune-related differences in the microenvironment. We found that CAFs strongly protect carcinoma cells from lapatinib, attributable to its reduced accumulation in carcinoma cells and an elevated apoptotic threshold. Using synthetic lethality approaches, we identified molecular pathways whose inhibition sensitizes HER2+ breast cancer cells to lapatinib both in vitro and in vivo including JAK2/STAT3 and hyaluronic acid. Neoadjuvant lapatinib therapy in HER2+ breast tumors lead to a significant increase of phospho-STAT3+ cancer cells and a decrease in the spatial proximity of proliferating (Ki67+) cells to CAFs impacting therapeutic responses. Our studies identify CAF-induced physiologically and clinically relevant changes in cancer cells and offer novel approaches for overcoming microenvironment-mediated therapeutic resistance.
Project description:To progress, tumors need to invade the surrounding tissues. However, the heterogeneity of cell types at the tumor-stroma interface and the complexity of their potential interactions hampered mechanistic insights for efficient therapeutic targeting. Here, combining single-cell and spatial transcriptomics on human basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), we define the cellular contributors of the invasive front. In the invasive niche, tumor cells harbor a collective migration phenotype, supported by the expression of cell-cell junction complexes. In physical proximity, we identify cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) with extracellular matrix-remodeling features, as required to support collective migration. Moreover, while tumor cells specifically express Activin A, we find Activin A-induced gene signature enrichment in adjacent CAFs subpopulations, further supporting their biological crosstalk. Altogether, our data identify the subpopulations and their transcriptional reprogramming contributing to the spatial organization of the BCC invasive niche. They also bring the proof-of-concept for integrated spatial and single-cell multi-omics to decipher cancer-specific invasive properties and develop therapeutic targeting.
Project description:To progress, tumors need to invade the surrounding tissues. However, the heterogeneity of cell types at the tumor-stroma interface and the complexity of their potential interactions hampered mechanistic insights for efficient therapeutic targeting. Here, combining single-cell and spatial transcriptomics on human basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), we define the cellular contributors of the invasive front. In the invasive niche, tumor cells harbor a collective migration phenotype, supported by the expression of cell-cell junction complexes. In physical proximity, we identify cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) with extracellular matrix-remodeling features, as required to support collective migration. Moreover, while tumor cells specifically express Activin A, we find Activin A-induced gene signature enrichment in adjacent CAFs subpopulations, further supporting their biological crosstalk. Altogether, our data identify the subpopulations and their transcriptional reprogramming contributing to the spatial organization of the BCC invasive niche. They also bring the proof-of-concept for integrated spatial and single-cell multi-omics to decipher cancer-specific invasive properties and develop therapeutic targeting.
Project description:The primary antigen receptor repertoire is sculpted by the process of V(D)J recombination, which must strike a balance between diversification and favoring gene segments with specialized functions. The precise determinants of how often gene segments are chosen to complete variable region coding exons remain elusive. We have quantified Vβ usage in the pre-selection Tcrb repertoire and report relative contributions of 14 distinct features in shaping their recombination efficiencies, including transcription, chromatin environment, spatial proximity to their DβJβ targets, and quality of recombinase recognition elements. Computational analyses provide a unifying model, revealing a minimal set of eight parameters that are predictive of Vβusage, dominated by chromatin modifications associated with transcription, but largely independent of the precise spatial proximity to DβJβclusters. Transcription profiles of mouse DN thymocytes from Rag1 KO mice were generated by deep sequencing, using Illumina Hi-Seq 2000.
Project description:Chip-chip from pro-T(DN) cells from Rag1KO mice for H3K27ac, P300 and FAIRE The primary antigen receptor repertoire is sculpted by the process of V(D)J recombination, which must strike a balance between diversification and favoring gene segments with specialized functions. The precise determinants of how often gene segments are chosen to complete variable region coding exons remain elusive. We have quantified Vβ usage in the pre-selection Tcrb repertoire and report relative contributions of 14 distinct features in shaping their recombination efficiencies, including transcription, chromatin environment, spatial proximity to their DβJβ targets, and quality of recombinase recognition elements. Computational analyses provide a unifying model, revealing a minimal set of eight parameters that are predictive of Vβusage, dominated by chromatin modifications associated with transcription, but largely independent of the precise spatial proximity to DβJβclusters. Rag1KO DN epigenetic landscape at Tcrb
Project description:(Purpose) Biological classification of colorectal cancer (CRC) can help to understand its heterogeneous background. The purpose of this study is to classify CRC based on gene expression profiles using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples and to correlate subgroups of CRC with biological features and clinical outcomes. (Results) CRC was clustered into four subgroups by unsupervised hierarchical clustering method. These subgroups show different biological and clinical features. (Conclusion) Gene expression profiles of CRC using FFPE samples distinguish four subgroups that had different biological features and clinical outcomes. These subgroups may explain heterogeneity of CRC and be useful biomarker for clinical. Patients and Methods: One hundred patients with unresectable and advanced or recurrent CRC who underwent the surgical resection from 1998 to 2010 were enrolled in this study. RNA extracted from FFPE samples was subjected to gene expression microarray. After comprehensive gene expression analysis, CRC were classified by an unsupervised hierarchical clustering and a principle component analysis (PCA). Mutation analysis of KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA and TP53 genes were performed by direct DNA sequencing. Correlation between the biological information, clinicopathological factors and clinical outcomes were analyzed.
Project description:Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) represent the cornerstone for treatment of patients with metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Despite a favorable response for a subset of patients, others experience primary progressive disease highlighting the need to precisely understand plasticity of cancer cells and their crosstalk with the microenvironment to better predict therapeutic response and personalize treatment. Single-cell RNA sequencing of ccRCC at different disease stages and normal adjacent tissue (NAT) from patients identified 46 cell populations, including 5 tumor subpopulations, characterized by distinct transcriptional signatures representing an epithelial to mesenchymal transition gradient and a novel inflamed state. Deconvolution of the tumor and microenvironment signatures in public datasets and in data from the BIONIKK clinical trial (NCT02960906) revealed a strong correlation between mesenchymal-like ccRCC cells and myofibroblastic cancer-associated fibroblasts (myCAFs), which are both enriched in metastases and correlate with poor patient survival. Spatial transcriptomics and multiplex immune staining uncovered spatial proximity of mesenchymal-like ccRCC cells and myCAFs at the tumor-NAT interface. Moreover, enrichment in myCAFs was associated with primary resistance to ICI therapy in the BIONIKK clinical trial. This data highlights the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity of ccRCC cancer cells and their relationship with myCAFs, a critical component of the microenvironment associated with poor outcome and ICI resistance.
Project description:Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) represent the cornerstone for treatment of patients with metastatic clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Despite a favorable response for a subset of patients, others experience primary progressive disease highlighting the need to precisely understand plasticity of cancer cells and their crosstalk with the microenvironment to better predict therapeutic response and personalize treatment. Single-cell RNA sequencing of ccRCC at different disease stages and normal adjacent tissue (NAT) from patients identified 46 cell populations, including 5 tumor subpopulations, characterized by distinct transcriptional signatures representing an epithelial to mesenchymal transition gradient and a novel inflamed state. Deconvolution of the tumor and microenvironment signatures in public datasets and in data from the BIONIKK clinical trial (NCT02960906) revealed a strong correlation between mesenchymal-like ccRCC cells and myofibroblastic cancer-associated fibroblasts (myCAFs), which are both enriched in metastases and correlate with poor patient survival. Spatial transcriptomics and multiplex immune staining uncovered spatial proximity of mesenchymal-like ccRCC cells and myCAFs at the tumor-NAT interface. Moreover, enrichment in myCAFs was associated with primary resistance to ICI therapy in the BIONIKK clinical trial. This data highlights the epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity of ccRCC cancer cells and their relationship with myCAFs, a critical component of the microenvironment associated with poor outcome and ICI resistance.