Anaplastic transformation in thyroid cancer revealed by single-cell transcriptomics

Lina Lu, Jennifer Rui Wang, Ying C. Henderson, Shanshan Bai, Jie Yang, Min Hu, Cheng Kai Shiau, Timothy Pan, Yuanqing Yan, Tuan M. Tran, Jianzhuo Li, Rachel Kieser, Xiao Zhao, Jiping Wang, Roza Nurieva, Michelle D. Williams, Maria E. Cabanillas, Ramona Dadu, Naifa Lamki Busaidy, Mark ZafereoNicholas Navin, Stephen Y. Lai, Ruli Gao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The deadliest anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) often transforms from indolent differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC); however, the complex intratumor transformation process is poorly understood. We investigated an anaplastic transformation model by dissecting both cell lineage and cell fate transitions using single-cell transcriptomic and genetic alteration data from patients with different subtypes of thyroid cancer. The resulting spectrum of ATC transformation included stress-responsive DTC cells, inflammatory ATC cells (iATCs), and mitotic-defective ATC cells and extended all the way to mesenchymal ATC cells (mATCs). Furthermore, our analysis identified 2 important milestones: (a) a diploid stage, in which iATC cells were diploids with inflammatory phenotypes and (b) an aneuploid stage, in which mATCs gained aneuploid genomes and mesenchymal phenotypes, producing excessive amounts of collagen and collagen-interacting receptors. In parallel, cancer-associated fibroblasts showed strong interactions among mesenchymal cell types, macrophages shifted from M1 to M2 states, and T cells reprogrammed from cytotoxic to exhausted states, highlighting new therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of ATC.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere169653
JournalJournal of Clinical Investigation
Volume133
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

MD Anderson CCSG core facilities

  • Tissue Biospecimen and Pathology Resource
  • SINGLE Core
  • Bioinformatics Shared Resource

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