Single-cell transcriptomic landscape reveals tumor specific innate lymphoid cells associated with colorectal cancer progression

• Published in: Cell reports. Medicine 2021-08, Vol.2 (8), p.100353-100353, Article 100353
• Main Authors: Qi, Jingjing, Crinier, Adeline, Escalière, Bertrand, Ye, Youqiong, Wang, Zhengting, Zhang, Tianyu, Batista, Luciana, Liu, Hongzhi, Hong, Liwen, Wu, Ningbo, Zhang, Mingnan, Chen, Lei, Liu, Yingbin, Shen, Lei, Narni-Mancinelli, Emilie, Vivier, Eric, Su, Bing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biomarker; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; blood; Colorectal Neoplasms - genetics; Colorectal Neoplasms - immunology; Colorectal Neoplasms - pathology; colrectal cancer; Disease Progression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; ILC heterogeneity; ILC1s; ILC2s; Immunity, Innate - genetics; inate lymphoid cells; Intestines - immunology; Life Sciences; Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology; Lymphocytes - immunology; Signaling Lymphocytic Activation Molecule Family Member 1 - metabolism; Single-Cell Analysis; single-cell RNA sequencing; SLAMF1; TIGIT; Transcriptome - genetics
• ISSN: 2666-3791; 2666-3791
• DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100353

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are tissue-resident lymphocytes differing from conventional T lymphocytes in having no antigen-specific receptors. ILCs include natural killer (NK) cells, helper-like ILC1s, ILC2s, and ILC3s, and lymphoid tissue-inducer (LTi) cells. Tumor ILCs are frequently found in various cancers, but their roles in cancer immunity and immunotherapy remain largely unclear. We report here the single-cell characterization of blood and gut helper-like ILC subsets in healthy conditions and in colorectal cancer (CRC). The healthy gut contains ILC1s, ILC3s, and ILC3/NKs, but no ILC2s. Additional tumor-specific ILC1-like and ILC2 subsets were identified in CRC patients. Signaling lymphocytic activation molecule family member 1 (SLAMF1) was found to be selectively expressed on tumor-specific ILCs, and higher levels of SLAMF1+ ILCs were observed in the blood of CRC patients. The SLAMF1-high group of CRC patients had a significantly higher survival rate than the SLAMF1-low group, suggesting that SLAMF1 is an anti-tumor biomarker in CRC. [Display omitted] Healthy gut contains ILC1s, ILC3s, and ILC3/NKs, but no ILC2sBlood and tumor ILCs from CRC patients have unique transcriptomic featuresTumor tissue from CRC patients contains a tumor specific ILC1-like subset and ILC2sSLAMF1 is identified as an anti-tumor biomarker in CRC The roles and contribution of ILCs to cancer remain poorly defined. Through scRNA-seq profiling the landscape of ILCs from blood, normal mucosa, and tumor tissues from CRC patients, Qi et al. reveal the presence of tumor specific ILC subsets and an anti-tumor biomarker, SLAMF1, in CRC patients.