Deciphering pathological behavior of pediatric medullary thyroid cancer from single-cell perspective

De-qian Chen; En-qing Zhou; Hui-fen Chen; Yong Zhan; Chun-Jing Ye; Yi Li; Shu-yang Dai; Jun-feng Wang; Lian Chen; Kui-ran Dong; Rui Dong

doi:10.7717/peerj.15546

PeerJ (Sep 2023)

Deciphering pathological behavior of pediatric medullary thyroid cancer from single-cell perspective

De-qian Chen,
En-qing Zhou,
Hui-fen Chen,
Yong Zhan,
Chun-Jing Ye,
Yi Li,
Shu-yang Dai,
Jun-feng Wang,
Lian Chen,
Kui-ran Dong,
Rui Dong

Affiliations

De-qian Chen: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
En-qing Zhou: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Hui-fen Chen: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Yong Zhan: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Chun-Jing Ye: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Yi Li: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Shu-yang Dai: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Jun-feng Wang: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Lian Chen: Department of Pathology, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Kui-ran Dong: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Rui Dong: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Birth Defect, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15546
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11
p. e15546

Abstract

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Background Pediatric medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is one of the rare pediatric endocrine neoplasms. Derived from C cells of thyroid glands, MTC is more aggressive and more prompt to metastasis than other types of pediatric thyroid cancer. The mechanism remains unclear. Methods We performed single-cell transcriptome sequencing on the samples of the primary tumor and metastases lymph nodes from one patient diagnosed with MTC, and it is the first single-cell transcriptome sequencing data of pediatric MTC. In addition, whole exome sequencing was performed and peripheral blood was regarded as a normal reference. All cells that passed quality control were merged and analyzed in R to discover the association between tumor cells and their microenvironment as well as tumor pathogenesis. Results We first described the landscape of the single-cell atlas of MTC and studied the interaction between the tumor cell and its microenvironment. C cells, identified as tumor cells, and T cells, as the dominant participant in the tumor microenvironment, were particularly discussed in their development and interactions. In addition, the WES signature of tumor cells and their microenvironment were also described. Actively immune interactions were found, indicating B cells, T cells and myeloid cells were all actively participating in immune reaction in MTC. T cells, as the major components of the tumor microenvironment, proliferated in MTC and could be divided into clusters that expressed proliferation, immune effectiveness, and naive markers separately.

Published in PeerJ

ISSN: 2167-8359 (Online)
Publisher: PeerJ Inc.
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine; Science: Biology (General)
Website: https://peerj.com/

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