Lin Q, Zhou Y, Ma J, Han S, Huang Y, Wu F, Wang X, Zhang Y, Mei X, Ma L. Single-cell analysis reveals the multiple patterns of immune escape in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma microenvironment.
Clin Transl Med 2023;
13:e1315. [PMID:
37349991 PMCID:
PMC10288070 DOI:
10.1002/ctm2.1315]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Single-cell transcriptomics has revolutionised our understanding of the cellular composition of the tumour microenvironment (TME) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Despite this progress, a key limitation of this technique has been its inability to capture epithelial/tumour cells, which has hindered further investigation of tumour heterogeneity and immune escape in NPC.
METHODS
In this study, we aimed to address these limitations by analysing the transcriptomics and spatial characteristics of NPC tumour cells at single-cell resolution using scRNA/snRNA-seq and imaging mass cytometry techniques.
RESULTS
Our findings demonstrate multiple patterns of immune escape mechanisms in NPC, including the loss of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules in malignant cells, induction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in fibroblast-like malignant cells and the use of hyperplastic cells in tumour nests to protect tumour cells from immune infiltration. Additionally, we identified, for the first time, a CD8+ natural killer (NK) cell cluster that is specific to the NPC TME.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide new insights into the complexity of NPC immune landscape and may lead to novel therapeutic strategies for this disease.
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