Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Revealed That the Enrichment of TPI1+ Malignant Hepatocytes Was Linked to HCC Metastasis and Immunosuppressive Microenvironment

作者：Yuxin Liang, Deyuan Zhong, Qinyan Yang, Yuan Tang, Yingying Qin, Yuhao Su, Xiaolun Huang, Jin Shang · 发表于：Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.2147/jhc.s453249 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics、Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers、Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis

Background: Tumor metastasis is the leading cause of high mortality in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The metastasis-related HCC microenvironment is characterized by high heterogeneity. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) may aid in determining specific cell clusters involved in regulating the immune microenvironment of HCC. Methods: The scRNA-seq data of 10 HCC samples were collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database GSE124395. Correlations between key gene expression and clinicopathological data were determined using public databases. HCC tissues and matched tumor-adjacent and normal tissue samples were obtained by surgical resection at Sichuan Cancer Hospital. Immune cell infiltration analysis was performed and verified by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent staining. Results: Nine malignant hepatocyte clusters with different marker genes and biological functions were identified. C3_Hepatocyte-SERF2 and C6_Hepatocyte-IL13RA2 were mainly involved in the regulation of the immune microenvironment, which was also a significant pathway in regulating HCC metastasis. Key genes in malignant hepatocyte clusters that associated with HCC metastasis were further screened by LASSO regression analysis. TPI1, a key gene in C6_Hepatocyte-IL13RA2 and HCC metastasis, could participate in regulating the HCC immune microenvironment in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) databases. Moreover, immunohistochemistry analysis demonstr...