1
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Recaldin T, Steinacher L, Gjeta B, Harter MF, Adam L, Kromer K, Mendes MP, Bellavista M, Nikolaev M, Lazzaroni G, Krese R, Kilik U, Popovic D, Stoll B, Gerard R, Bscheider M, Bickle M, Cabon L, Camp JG, Gjorevski N. Human organoids with an autologous tissue-resident immune compartment. Nature 2024; 633:165-173. [PMID: 39143209 PMCID: PMC11374719 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07791-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
The intimate relationship between the epithelium and immune system is crucial for maintaining tissue homeostasis, with perturbations therein linked to autoimmune disease and cancer1-3. Whereas stem cell-derived organoids are powerful models of epithelial function4, they lack tissue-resident immune cells that are essential for capturing organ-level processes. We describe human intestinal immuno-organoids (IIOs), formed through self-organization of epithelial organoids and autologous tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells, a portion of which integrate within the epithelium and continuously survey the barrier. TRM cell migration and interaction with epithelial cells was orchestrated by TRM cell-enriched transcriptomic programs governing cell motility and adhesion. We combined IIOs and single-cell transcriptomics to investigate intestinal inflammation triggered by cancer-targeting biologics in patients. Inflammation was associated with the emergence of an activated population of CD8+ T cells that progressively acquired intraepithelial and cytotoxic features. The appearance of this effector population was preceded and potentiated by a T helper-1-like CD4+ population, which initially produced cytokines and subsequently became cytotoxic itself. As a system amenable to direct perturbation, IIOs allowed us to identify the Rho pathway as a new target for mitigation of immunotherapy-associated intestinal inflammation. Given that they recapitulate both the phenotypic outcomes and underlying interlineage immune interactions, IIOs can be used to study tissue-resident immune responses in the context of tumorigenesis and infectious and autoimmune diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Recaldin
- Roche Innovation Center Basel, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Linda Steinacher
- Roche Innovation Center Basel, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
- Hannover Medical School, Institute of Immunology, Hannover, Germany
| | - Bruno Gjeta
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Marius F Harter
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
- Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, University Paris-Saclay, Paris, France
| | - Lukas Adam
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Kristina Kromer
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Marisa Pimentel Mendes
- Roche Innovation Center Basel, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Marina Bellavista
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Mikhail Nikolaev
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Giacomo Lazzaroni
- Roche Innovation Center Basel, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Rok Krese
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Umut Kilik
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Doris Popovic
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Bilgenaz Stoll
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Régine Gerard
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Michael Bscheider
- Roche Innovation Center Basel, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Marc Bickle
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Lauriane Cabon
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - J Gray Camp
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - Nikolche Gjorevski
- Institute of Human Biology (IHB), Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Basel, Switzerland.
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2
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Xu Y, Wang S, Feng Q, Xia J, Li Y, Li HD, Wang J. scCAD: Cluster decomposition-based anomaly detection for rare cell identification in single-cell expression data. Nat Commun 2024; 15:7561. [PMID: 39215003 PMCID: PMC11364754 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51891-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 08/15/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technologies have become essential tools for characterizing cellular landscapes within complex tissues. Large-scale single-cell transcriptomics holds great potential for identifying rare cell types critical to the pathogenesis of diseases and biological processes. Existing methods for identifying rare cell types often rely on one-time clustering using partial or global gene expression. However, these rare cell types may be overlooked during the clustering phase, posing challenges for their accurate identification. In this paper, we propose a Cluster decomposition-based Anomaly Detection method (scCAD), which iteratively decomposes clusters based on the most differential signals in each cluster to effectively separate rare cell types and achieve accurate identification. We benchmark scCAD on 25 real-world scRNA-seq datasets, demonstrating its superior performance compared to 10 state-of-the-art methods. In-depth case studies across diverse datasets, including mouse airway, brain, intestine, human pancreas, immunology data, and clear cell renal cell carcinoma, showcase scCAD's efficiency in identifying rare cell types in complex biological scenarios. Furthermore, scCAD can correct the annotation of rare cell types and identify immune cell subtypes associated with disease, thereby offering valuable insights into disease progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunpei Xu
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Xiangjiang Laboratory, Changsha, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Lab on Bioinformatics, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Shaokai Wang
- David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Qilong Feng
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Xiangjiang Laboratory, Changsha, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Lab on Bioinformatics, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Jiazhi Xia
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
- Hunan Provincial Key Lab on Bioinformatics, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Yaohang Li
- Department of Computer Science, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
| | - Hong-Dong Li
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China.
- Xiangjiang Laboratory, Changsha, China.
- Hunan Provincial Key Lab on Bioinformatics, Central South University, Changsha, China.
| | - Jianxin Wang
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China.
- Xiangjiang Laboratory, Changsha, China.
- Hunan Provincial Key Lab on Bioinformatics, Central South University, Changsha, China.
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3
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Zhang H, Lu X, Lu B, Gullo G, Chen L. Measuring the composition of the tumor microenvironment with transcriptome analysis: past, present and future. Future Oncol 2024; 20:1207-1220. [PMID: 38362731 PMCID: PMC11318690 DOI: 10.2217/fon-2023-0658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Interactions between tumor cells and immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) play a vital role the mechanisms of immune evasion, by which cancer cells escape immune elimination. Thus, the characterization and quantification of different components in the TME is a hot topic in molecular biology and drug discovery. Since the development of transcriptome sequencing in bulk tissue, single cells and spatial dimensions, there are increasing methods emerging to deconvolute and subtype the TME. This review discusses and compares such computational strategies and downstream subtyping analyses. Integrative analyses of the transcriptome with other data, such as epigenetics and T-cell receptor sequencing, are needed to obtain comprehensive knowledge of the dynamic TME.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Zhang
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA
| | - Xinghua Lu
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA
| | - Binfeng Lu
- Center for Discovery & Innovation, Hackensack Meridian Health, Nutley, NJ 07110, USA
| | - Giuseppe Gullo
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Villa Sofia Cervello Hospital, University of Palermo, 90146, Palermo, Italy
| | - Lujia Chen
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA
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4
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Schurr E, Dallmann-Sauer M, Fava V, Malherbe S, McDonald C, Orlova M, Kroon E, Cobat A, Boisson-Dupuis S, Hoal E, Abel L, Möller M, Casanova JL, Walzl G, du Plessis N. Mycobacterium tuberculosis resisters despite HIV exhibit activated T cells and macrophages in their pulmonary alveoli. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-3889020. [PMID: 38352496 PMCID: PMC10863035 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3889020/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
To understand natural resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) infection, we studied people living with HIV (PLWH) in an area of high Mtb transmission. Given that alveolar leukocytes may contribute to this resistance, we performed single cell RNA-sequencing of bronchoalveolar lavage cells, unstimulated or ex vivo stimulated with Mtb . We obtained high quality cells for 7 participants who were TST & IGRA positive (called LTBI) and 6 who were persistently TST & IGRA negative (called resisters). Alveolar macrophages (AM) from resisters displayed more of an M1 phenotype relative to LTBI AM at baseline. Alveolar lymphocytosis (10%-60%) was exhibited by 5/6 resisters, resulting in higher numbers of CD4 + and CD8 + IFNG -expressing cells at baseline and upon Mtb challenge than LTBI samples. Mycobactericidal granulysin was expressed almost exclusively by a cluster of CD8 + T cells that co-expressed granzyme B, perforin and NK cell receptors. For resisters, these poly-cytotoxic T cells over-represented activating NK cell receptors and were present at 15-fold higher numbers in alveoli compared to LTBI. Altogether, our results showed that alveolar lymphocytosis, with increased numbers of alveolar IFNG -expressing cells and CD8 + poly-cytotoxic T cells, as well as activated AM were strongly associated with protection from persistent Mtb infection in PLWH.
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Handler K, Bach K, Borrelli C, Piscuoglio S, Ficht X, Acar IE, Moor AE. Fragment-sequencing unveils local tissue microenvironments at single-cell resolution. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7775. [PMID: 38012149 PMCID: PMC10681997 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43005-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Cells collectively determine biological functions by communicating with each other-both through direct physical contact and secreted factors. Consequently, the local microenvironment of a cell influences its behavior, gene expression, and cellular crosstalk. Disruption of this microenvironment causes reciprocal changes in those features, which can lead to the development and progression of diseases. Hence, assessing the cellular transcriptome while simultaneously capturing the spatial relationships of cells within a tissue provides highly valuable insights into how cells communicate in health and disease. Yet, methods to probe the transcriptome often fail to preserve native spatial relationships, lack single-cell resolution, or are highly limited in throughput, i.e. lack the capacity to assess multiple environments simultaneously. Here, we introduce fragment-sequencing (fragment-seq), a method that enables the characterization of single-cell transcriptomes within multiple spatially distinct tissue microenvironments. We apply fragment-seq to a murine model of the metastatic liver to study liver zonation and the metastatic niche. This analysis reveals zonated genes and ligand-receptor interactions enriched in specific hepatic microenvironments. Finally, we apply fragment-seq to other tissues and species, demonstrating the adaptability of our method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Handler
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Schanzenstrasse 44, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Karsten Bach
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Schanzenstrasse 44, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Costanza Borrelli
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Schanzenstrasse 44, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Salvatore Piscuoglio
- Institute of Medical Genetics and Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- Visceral Surgery and Precision Medicine Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Xenia Ficht
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Schanzenstrasse 44, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ilhan E Acar
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Schanzenstrasse 44, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Andreas E Moor
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Schanzenstrasse 44, 4056, Basel, Switzerland.
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6
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Zhang H, Lu X, Lu B, Chen L. scGEM: Unveiling the Nested Tree-Structured Gene Co-Expressing Modules in Single Cell Transcriptome Data. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:4277. [PMID: 37686554 PMCID: PMC10486867 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15174277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Single-cell transcriptome analysis has fundamentally changed biological research by allowing higher-resolution computational analysis of individual cells and subsets of cell types. However, few methods have met the need to recognize and quantify the underlying cellular programs that determine the specialization and differentiation of the cell types. METHODS In this study, we present scGEM, a nested tree-structured nonparametric Bayesian model, to reveal the gene co-expression modules (GEMs) reflecting transcriptome processes in single cells. RESULTS We show that scGEM can discover shared and specialized transcriptome signals across different cell types using peripheral blood mononuclear single cells and early brain development single cells. scGEM outperformed other methods in perplexity and topic coherence (p < 0.001) on our simulation data. Larger datasets, deeper trees and pre-trained models are shown to be positively associated with better scGEM performance. The GEMs obtained from triple-negative breast cancer single cells exhibited better correlations with lymphocyte infiltration (p = 0.009) and the cell cycle (p < 0.001) than other methods in additional validation on the bulk RNAseq dataset. CONCLUSIONS Altogether, we demonstrate that scGEM can be used to model the hidden cellular functions of single cells, thereby unveiling the specialization and generalization of transcriptomic programs across different types of cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Zhang
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA; (H.Z.)
| | - Xinghua Lu
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA; (H.Z.)
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA
| | - Binfeng Lu
- Center for Discovery and Innovation, Hackensack Meridian Health, Nutley, NJ 07110, USA
| | - Lujia Chen
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA; (H.Z.)
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7
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Grenko CM, Bonnycastle LL, Taylor HJ, Yan T, Swift AJ, Robertson CC, Narisu N, Erdos MR, Collins FS, Taylor DL. Single-cell transcriptomic profiling of human pancreatic islets reveals genes responsive to glucose exposure over 24 hours. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.06.543931. [PMID: 37333221 PMCID: PMC10274787 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.06.543931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Disruption of pancreatic islet function and glucose homeostasis can lead to the development of sustained hyperglycemia, beta cell glucotoxicity, and ultimately type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this study, we sought to explore the effects of hyperglycemia on human pancreatic islet (HPI) gene expression by exposing HPIs from two donors to low (2.8mM) and high (15.0mM) glucose concentrations over 24 hours, assaying the transcriptome at seven time points using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). We modeled time as both a discrete and continuous variable to determine momentary and longitudinal changes in transcription associated with islet time in culture or glucose exposure. Across all cell types, we identified 1,528 genes associated with time, 1,185 genes associated with glucose exposure, and 845 genes associated with interaction effects between time and glucose. We clustered differentially expressed genes across cell types and found 347 modules of genes with similar expression patterns across time and glucose conditions, including two beta cell modules enriched in genes associated with T2D. Finally, by integrating genomic features from this study and genetic summary statistics for T2D and related traits, we nominate 363 candidate effector genes that may underlie genetic associations for T2D and related traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caleb M. Grenko
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Lori L. Bonnycastle
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Henry J. Taylor
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB1 8RN, UK
| | - Tingfen Yan
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Amy J. Swift
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Catherine C. Robertson
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Narisu Narisu
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Michael R. Erdos
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Francis S. Collins
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - D. Leland Taylor
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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8
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Lee HJ, Lee J, Yang MJ, Kim YC, Hong SP, Kim JM, Hwang GS, Koh GY. Endothelial cell-derived stem cell factor promotes lipid accumulation through c-Kit-mediated increase of lipogenic enzymes in brown adipocytes. Nat Commun 2023; 14:2754. [PMID: 37179330 PMCID: PMC10183046 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38433-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Active thermogenesis in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) facilitating the utilization of lipids and glucose is critical for maintaining body temperature and reducing metabolic diseases, whereas inactive BAT accumulates lipids in brown adipocytes (BAs), leading to BAT whitening. Although cellular crosstalk between endothelial cells (ECs) and adipocytes is essential for the transport and utilization of fatty acid in BAs, the angiocrine roles of ECs mediating this crosstalk remain poorly understood. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing and knock-out male mice, we demonstrate that stem cell factor (SCF) derived from ECs upregulates gene expressions and protein levels of the enzymes for de novo lipogenesis, and promotes lipid accumulation by activating c-Kit in BAs. In the early phase of lipid accumulation induced by denervation or thermoneutrality, transiently expressed c-Kit on BAs increases the protein levels of the lipogenic enzymes via PI3K and AKT signaling. EC-specific SCF deletion and BA-specific c-Kit deletion attenuate the induction of the lipogenic enzymes and suppress the enlargement of lipid droplets in BAs after denervation or thermoneutrality in male mice. These data provide insight into SCF/c-Kit signaling as a regulator that promotes lipid accumulation through the increase of lipogenic enzymes in BAT when thermogenesis is inhibited.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyuek Jong Lee
- Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
| | - Jueun Lee
- Integrated Metabolomics Research Group, Western Seoul Center, Korea Basic Science Institute, Seoul, 03760, Republic of Korea
| | - Myung Jin Yang
- Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Young-Chan Kim
- Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Seon Pyo Hong
- Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Jung Mo Kim
- Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Geum-Sook Hwang
- Integrated Metabolomics Research Group, Western Seoul Center, Korea Basic Science Institute, Seoul, 03760, Republic of Korea.
- Colleage of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
| | - Gou Young Koh
- Center for Vascular Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
- Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
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9
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Chen X, Chen L, Kürten CHL, Jabbari F, Vujanovic L, Ding Y, Lu B, Lu K, Kulkarni A, Tabib T, Lafyatis R, Cooper GF, Ferris R, Lu X. An individualized causal framework for learning intercellular communication networks that define microenvironments of individual tumors. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010761. [PMID: 36548438 PMCID: PMC9822106 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 01/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Cells within a tumor microenvironment (TME) dynamically communicate and influence each other's cellular states through an intercellular communication network (ICN). In cancers, intercellular communications underlie immune evasion mechanisms of individual tumors. We developed an individualized causal analysis framework for discovering tumor specific ICNs. Using head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tumors as a testbed, we first mined single-cell RNA-sequencing data to discover gene expression modules (GEMs) that reflect the states of transcriptomic processes within tumor and stromal single cells. By deconvoluting bulk transcriptomes of HNSCC tumors profiled by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we estimated the activation states of these transcriptomic processes in individual tumors. Finally, we applied individualized causal network learning to discover an ICN within each tumor. Our results show that cellular states of cells in TMEs are coordinated through ICNs that enable multi-way communications among epithelial, fibroblast, endothelial, and immune cells. Further analyses of individual ICNs revealed structural patterns that were shared across subsets of tumors, leading to the discovery of 4 different subtypes of networks that underlie disparate TMEs of HNSCC. Patients with distinct TMEs exhibited significantly different clinical outcomes. Our results show that the capability of estimating individual ICNs reveals heterogeneity of ICNs and sheds light on the importance of intercellular communication in impacting disease development and progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueer Chen
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Center for Causal Discovery, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
| | - Lujia Chen
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Center for Causal Discovery, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
| | - Cornelius H. L. Kürten
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
- University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
| | - Fattaneh Jabbari
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Center for Causal Discovery, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
| | - Lazar Vujanovic
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
- University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Ying Ding
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
| | - Binfeng Lu
- Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
| | - Kevin Lu
- Williamsville North High School, Williamsville, New York, United States of America
| | - Aditi Kulkarni
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
| | - Tracy Tabib
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
| | - Robert Lafyatis
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
| | - Gregory F. Cooper
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Center for Causal Discovery, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
- University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Robert Ferris
- Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
- University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Xinghua Lu
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- Center for Causal Discovery, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, United States of America
- University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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