Single-cell RNA-sequencing Reveals Radiochemotherapy-induced Innate Immune Activation and MHC-II Upregulation in Cervical Cancer

Overview

Journal Signal Transduct Target Ther

Specialties Cell Biology
Pharmacology

Date 2023 Jan 30

PMID 36710358

Authors

Chao Liu

Xiaohui Li

Qingyu Huang

Min Zhang

Tianyu Lei

Fuhao Wang

Wenxue Zou

Rui Huang

Xiaoyu Hu

Cong Wang

Xiaoling Zhang

Bing Sun

Ligang Xing

Jinbo Yue

Jinming Yu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Radiochemotherapy (RCT) is a powerful treatment for cervical cancer, which affects not only malignant cells but also the immune and stromal compartments of the tumor. Understanding the remodeling of the local ecosystem induced by RCT would provide valuable insights into improving treatment strategies for cervical cancer. In this study, we applied single-cell RNA-sequencing to paired pre- and post-RCT tumor biopsies from patients with cervical cancer and adjacent normal cervical tissues. We found that the residual population of epithelial cells post-RCT showed upregulated expression of MHC class II genes. Moreover, RCT led to the accumulation of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells with increased pro-inflammatory features and CD16 NK cells with a higher cytotoxic gene expression signature. However, subclusters of T cells showed no significant increase in the expression of cytotoxic features post-RCT. These results reveal the complex responses of the tumor ecosystem to RCT, providing evidence of activation of innate immunity and MHC-II upregulation in cervical cancer.

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