[HTML][HTML] Single-cell transcriptomics and epigenomics unravel the role of monocytes in neuroblastoma bone marrow metastasis

IS Fetahu, W Esser-Skala, R Dnyansagar… - Nature …, 2023 - nature.com
IS Fetahu, W Esser-Skala, R Dnyansagar, S Sindelar, F Rifatbegovic, A Bileck, L Skos…
Nature Communications, 2023nature.com
Metastasis is the major cause of cancer-related deaths. Neuroblastoma (NB), a childhood
tumor has been molecularly defined at the primary cancer site, however, the bone marrow
(BM) as the metastatic niche of NB is poorly characterized. Here we perform single-cell
transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of BM aspirates from 11 subjects spanning three
major NB subtypes and compare these to five age-matched and metastasis-free BM,
followed by in-depth single cell analyses of tissue diversity and cell-cell interactions, as well …
Abstract
Metastasis is the major cause of cancer-related deaths. Neuroblastoma (NB), a childhood tumor has been molecularly defined at the primary cancer site, however, the bone marrow (BM) as the metastatic niche of NB is poorly characterized. Here we perform single-cell transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of BM aspirates from 11 subjects spanning three major NB subtypes and compare these to five age-matched and metastasis-free BM, followed by in-depth single cell analyses of tissue diversity and cell-cell interactions, as well as functional validation. We show that cellular plasticity of NB tumor cells is conserved upon metastasis and tumor cell type composition is NB subtype-dependent. NB cells signal to the BM microenvironment, rewiring via macrophage mgration inhibitory factor and midkine signaling specifically monocytes, which exhibit M1 and M2 features, are marked by activation of pro- and anti-inflammatory programs, and express tumor-promoting factors, reminiscent of tumor-associated macrophages. The interactions and pathways characterized in our study provide the basis for therapeutic approaches that target tumor-to-microenvironment interactions.
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