Single-cell and functional profiling identifies an IL6-centered immunometabolic communication circuit in multiple myeloma

作者：Lang D, Wu J, Zhang J, Feng Y · 发表于：Frontiers in immunology · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3389/fimmu.2026.1734500 · 被引用次数：35 · 研究领域：Multiple Myeloma、Interleukin-6、Cell Communication、Humans、Tumor Microenvironment、Single-Cell Analysis、Plasma Cells、Metabolic Reprogramming、Signal Transduction

Multiple myeloma (MM) persists within a specialized bone marrow niche in which malignant plasma cells, immune dysfunction, inflammatory signaling, and metabolic stress reinforce one another. To resolve this ecosystem at compartment-level resolution, we integrated public single-cell RNA sequencing data with pathway scoring, cell-cell communication inference, independent clinical validation, multiplex immunofluorescence, and metabolic perturbation experiments. Analysis of 95,940 bone marrow cells identified 32 annotated populations and revealed broad microenvironmental remodeling in MM, including plasma-cell expansion, altered cytotoxic and dendritic-cell compartments, TAM-associated inflammatory programs, and lineage-specific hematopoietic perturbations. Hallmark pathway analysis identified recurrent immunometabolic programs, including IL6-JAK-STAT3, TNFα-NFκB, mTORC1 signaling, oxidative phosphorylation, unfolded protein response, hypoxia, and checkpoint/exhaustion-associated pathways. CellChat analysis showed disease-associated rewiring of ligand-receptor networks involving malignant plasma cells, TAMs, dendritic cells, and T/NK subsets, with checkpoint-enriched communication and clinically relevant plasma-cell and CD274 survival associations. Serum IL-6 was elevated in an independent clinical validation cohort. Multiplex immunofluorescence confirmed PD-L1-positive plasma cells, C1QA/C1QB/C1QC-positive TAMs expressing LAG3, and CD8-positive/LAG3-positive cytotoxic T cells. M...