Cited by 168Immune cells in cancerSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomicsCancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers

Dissecting intratumoral myeloid cell plasticity by single cell RNA-seq

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Song, Qianqian, Hawkins, Gregory A., Wudel, Leonard, Chou, Ping‐Chieh, Forbes, Elizabeth, Pullikuth, Ashok K., Liu, Liang, Jin, Guangxu +12 more·2019·Cancer Medicine

Abstract

Tumor‐infiltrating myeloid cells are the most abundant leukocyte population within tumors. Molecular cues from the tumor microenvironment promote the differentiation of immature myeloid cells toward an immunosuppressive phenotype. However, the in situ dynamics of the transcriptional reprogramming underlying this process are poorly understood. Therefore, we applied single cell RNA‐seq (scRNA‐seq) to computationally investigate the cellular composition and transcriptional dynamics of tumor and adjacent normal tissues from 4 early‐stage non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Our scRNA‐seq analyses identified 11 485 cells that varied in identity and gene expression traits between normal and tumor tissues. Among these, myeloid cell populations exhibited the most diverse changes between tumor and normal tissues, consistent with tumor‐mediated reprogramming. Through trajectory analysis, we identified a differentiation path from CD14+ monocytes to M2 macrophages (monocyte‐to‐M2). This differentiation path was reproducible across patients, accompanied by increased expression of genes (eg, MRC1 / CD206 , MSR1 / CD204 , PPARG , TREM2 ) with significantly enriched functions (Oxidative phosphorylation and P53 pathway) and decreased expression of genes (eg, CXCL2 , IL1B ) with significantly enriched functions ( TNF‐α signaling via NF‐κB and inflammatory response). Our analysis further identified a co‐regulatory network implicating upstream transcription factors ( JUN , NFKBIA ) in monocyte‐to‐M2 differentiation, and activated ligand‐receptor interactions (eg, SFTPA1 ‐ TLR2 , ICAM1 ‐ ITGAM ) suggesting intratumoral mechanisms whereby epithelial cells stimulate monocyte‐to‐M2 differentiation. Overall, our study identified the prevalent monocyte‐to‐M2 differentiation in NSCLC, accompanied by an intricate transcriptional reprogramming mediated by specific transcriptional activators and intercellular crosstalk involving ligand‐receptor interactions.

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Authors
Song, Q., Hawkins, G. A., Wudel, L., Chou, P., Forbes, E., Pullikuth, A. K., Liu, L., Jin, G., Craddock, L., Topaloglu, U., Kucera, G., O’Neill, S., Levine, E. A., Sun, P., Watabe, K., Lu, Y., Alexander‐Miller, M. A., Pasche, B., Miller, L. D., & Zhang, W.
Affiliations
  • Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (US)
  • Wake Forest University Health Sciences (US)
  • Center for Cancer Genomics and Precision Oncology Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Winston Salem North Carolina
Corresponding author
  • Miller, Lance D.
  • Zhang, Wei
Venue
Cancer Medicine
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2019-04-29
Volume
8
Issue
6
Pages
3072-3085
ISSN
2045-7634 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2943598479
Cited by
168
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 6
FWCI
7.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cancer Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Comprehensive Cancer Center, City of Hope
  • Wake Forest University (P30CA012197)
  • National Foundation for Cancer Research
  • American Association for Cancer Research
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune cells in cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
Keywords
tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells, non-small cell lung cancer, tumor microenvironment, transcriptional reprogramming, M2 macrophages, CD14+ monocytes, transcriptional regulatory networks, NF-κB signaling, c-Jun, NFKBIA, ligand-receptor interactions, immunosuppression
MeSH terms
Cell Plasticity, RNA-Seq, Humans, Signal Transduction, Myeloid Cells, Tumor Microenvironment

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