Single-Cell Transcriptome Comparison of Bladder Cancer Reveals Its Ecosystem.

Bladder carcinoma (BLCA) is a highly heterogeneous disease, and the underlying biological behavior is still poorly understood. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing was performed on four clinical samples of different grades from three patients, and 26,792 cell transcriptomes were obtained revealing different tumor ecosystems.

We found that N-glycan biosynthesis pathway was activated in high-grade tumor, but TNF-related pathway was activated in cystitis glandularis. The tumor microenvironment (TME) of different samples showed great heterogeneity. Notably, cystitis glandularis was dominated by T cells, low-grade and high-grade tumors by macrophages, while TME in patient with high-grade relapse by stromal cells. Our research provides single-cell transcriptome profiles of cystitis glandularis and BLCA in different clinical states, and the biological program revealed by single-cell data can be used as biomarkers related to clinical prognosis in independent cohorts.

Frontiers in oncology. 2022 Feb 21*** epublish ***

Yongxiang Luo, Tao Tao, Ran Tao, Guixiao Huang, Song Wu

Institute of Urological Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

Read an Expert Commentary by Bishoy Faltas, MD