Single-cell profiling of tumor lineage plasticity and the immune microenvironment in transformed small cell lung cancer - PubMed
9 hours ago
- #Immune microenvironment
- #SCLC transformation
- #Lineage plasticity
- Study focuses on the transformation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a resistance mechanism in EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).
- Single-cell RNA sequencing analyzed 73,195 cells from LUAD, transformed SCLC (T-SCLC), and SCLC patients, revealing tumor cell heterogeneity and immune microenvironment.
- Identified a recurring stem-like malignant cell subpopulation as key to lineage plasticity in SCLC transformation.
- Tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) analysis showed enrichment of interferon-stimulated gene-positive (ISG+) T and B cells in T-SCLC.
- ISG+ lymphocytes promote neuroendocrine differentiation in LUAD cells via type I interferons (IFN-Is).
- Developed an ISG-associated gene signature linked to poor prognosis in LUAD.
- Ethics approval was obtained, and patients provided informed consent; no competing interests declared.