Landscape of cell heterogeneity and evolutionary trajectory in ulcerative colitis-associated colon cancer revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Wang, Quan Wang, Zhu Zhang, Zhen Zhang, Wei Zhang, Mengmeng Shen, Zhanlong Ye, Yingjiang Jiang, Kewei Wang, Shan
Copyright Year	2021
Abstract	ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to get preliminary insight on the intra-tumor heterogeneity in colitis-associated cancer (CAC) and to reveal a potential evolutionary trajectory from ulcerative colitis (UC) to CAC at the single-cell level.MethodsFresh samples of tumor tissues and adjacent UC tissues from a CAC patient with pT3N1M0 stage cancer were examined by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and The Human Protein Atlas were used to confirm the different expression levels in normal and tumor tissues and to determine their relationships with patient prognosis.ResultsUltimately, 4,777 single-cell transcriptomes (1,220 genes per cell) were examined, of which 2,250 (47%) and 2,527 (53%) originated from tumor and adjacent UC tissues, respectively. We defined the composition of cancer-associated stromal cells and identified six cell clusters, including myeloid, T and B cells, fibroblasts, endothelial and epithelial cells. Notable pathways and transcription factors involved in these cell clusters were analyzed and described. Moreover, the precise cellular composition and developmental trajectory from UC to UC-associated colon cancer were graphed, and it was predicted that CD74, CLCA1, and DPEP1 played a potential role in disease progression.ConclusionsscRNA-seq technology revealed intra-tumor cell heterogeneity in UC-associated colon cancer, and might provide a promising direction to identify novel potential therapeutic targets in the evolution from UC to CAC.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC8181874&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	10009604
Journal	Chinese Journal of Cancer Research [Chin J Cancer Res]
Volume Number	33
DOI	10.21147/j.issn.1000-9604.2021.02.13
PubMed Central reference number	PMC8181874
Issue Number	2
PubMed reference number	34158745
e-ISSN	19930631
Language	English
Publisher	AME Publishing Company
Publisher Date	2021-04-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Copyright ©2021Chinese Journal of Cancer Research. All rights reserved.
Subject Keyword	Ulcerative colitis-associated colon cancer single-cell RNA sequencing cell heterogeneity evolutionary trajectory
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Cancer Research Oncology