Journal Article

Single‐cell RNA‐seq reveals a microenvironment and an exhaustion state of T/NK cells in acute myeloid leukemia

Huang, Wenhui, Li, Junyi, Zeng, Tiansheng, Shi, Jinlong, Fu, Lin, Yao, Danlin, Huang, Zeyong, Zhang, Zhiyong, Xiao, Min, Zhu, Pei, Wu, Zhihua, Deng, Cong

2023

Overview

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous blood cancer. Effective immunotherapies for AML are hindered by a lack of understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, we retrieved published single‐cell RNA sequencing data for 128,688 cells derived from 29 bone marrow aspirates, including 21 AML patients and eight healthy donors. We established a global tumor ecosystem including nine main cell types. Myeloid, T, and NK cells were further re‐clustered and annotated. Developmental trajectory analysis indicated that exhausted CD8 + T cells might develop via tissue residual memory T cells (TRM) in the AML TME. Significantly higher expression levels of exhaustion molecules in AML TRM cells suggested that these cells were influenced by the TME and entered an exhausted state. Meanwhile, the upregulation of checkpoint molecules and downregulation of granzyme were also observed in AML NK cells, suggesting an exhaustion state. In conclusion, our comprehensive profiling of T/NK subpopulations provides deeper insights into the AML immunosuppressive ecosystem, which is critical for immunotherapies.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc,John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subject: Acute myeloid leukemia / Cancer therapies / CD8 antigen / Chemotherapy / Ethics / Gene expression / Genomics / Immunological memory / Immunotherapy / Leukemia / Lymphocytes / Lymphocytes T / Memory cells / Original / ORIGINAL ARTICLES / Patients / Tumor microenvironment / Tumors