Single cell transcriptomics of human and mouse lung cancers reveals conserved myeloid populations across individuals and species

By R. Zilionis, Camilla Engblom, C. Pfirschke, Virginia Savova, D. Zemmour, H. Saatcioglu, I. Krishnan, Giorgia Maroni, Claire V Meyerovitz, C. Kerwin and 8 more. Immunity, 2019

1,306 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells (TIMs) comprise monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells and neutrophils, and have emerged as key regulators of cancer growth. These cells can diversify into a spectrum of states, which may promote or limit tumor outgrowth, but remain poorly understood. Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to map TIMs in non-small cell lung cancer patients. We uncovered 25 TIM states, most of which were reproducibly found across patients. To facilitate translational research of these populations, we also profiled TIMs in mice. In comparing TIMs across species, we identified a near-complete congruence of population structures among dendritic cells and monocytes; conserved neutrophil subsets; and species differences among macrophages. By contrast, myeloid cell population structures in patients’ blood showed limited overlap with those of TIMs. This study determines the lung TIM landscape and sets the stage for future investigations into the potential of TIMs as immunotherapy targets.

Subfields: Immunology, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2d8c733ba085c338223a65a2bbaf2d6df345d8ad

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Immunology

1. S. Grivennikov
2. F. Greten
3. Joachim L. Schultze
4. M. Karin

In Molecular Biology

1. Joachim L. Schultze
2. F. Greten
3. S. Grivennikov

Citations in the corpus

• Human Monocyte Subsets and Phenotypes in Major Chronic Inflammatory Diseases (2019, background): “Nevertheless, although these monocyte populations matched to the three major peripheral blood monocyte populations from the same study, on average, considerable transcriptional differences were seen, such as those related to expressed chemokines and chemokine receptors (129).”
• Inflammation and Cancer: Triggers, Mechanisms and Consequences (2019, background): “It has become clear now that the immune system can play significant pro- and anti-tumorigenic roles at all stages of the tumorigenesis (Koebel et al., 2007; McGranahan and Swanton, 2017; Rosenthal et al., 2019; Schreiber et al., 2011; Teng et al., 2008; Vesely et al., 2011; Zilionis et al., 2019).”