Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1470449
This article is part of the Research Topic Immunological Precision Therapeutics: Integrating Multi-Omics Technologies and Comprehensive Approaches for Personalized Immune Intervention View all 13 articles

Unraveling the Ecological Landscape of Mast Cells in Esophageal Cancer Through Single-cell RNA Sequencing

Provisionally accepted
Shengyi Zhang Shengyi Zhang 1*Xinyi Zhang Xinyi Zhang 2Zhikai Xiahou Zhikai Xiahou 3Shunqing Zuo Shunqing Zuo 1Jialong Xue Jialong Xue 1Yi Zhang Yi Zhang 1*
  • 1 Songjiang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
  • 2 The Clinical Medical College of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3 China Institute of Sport and Health Science, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Esophageal cancer (EC) is a formidable health issue due to its high aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Despite advancements in treatment modalities, the survival rate remains dismal, often attributed to late-stage diagnosis and resistance to therapy. Mast cells (MCs), tissue-resident immune cells, play a significant role in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and have been implicated in both tumor-promoting and tumor-suppressing activities. Recent developments in high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) have allowed for the detailed dissection of tumor heterogeneity and the complex interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironmental components. However, the application of scRNA-seq in understanding the immune landscape of EC remains limited. In this study, we employed high-throughput scRNA-seq to investigate the TME of EC, focusing on the role of MCs. We analyzed six samples from patients with EC, identifying 11 major cell types and highlighting the significant presence of MCs in pericarcinoma tissues. Further subclustering of 5,001 MCs revealed eight distinct subtypes, among which MCs with high SRSF7 expression showing a strong tumor preference and potential tumor-promoting characteristics. Our findings underscore the complex interactions within the TME and suggest that targeting MC subtypes, particularly through the EGFR signaling pathway, could offer new therapeutic avenues. This study provides a comprehensive immune map of EC and lays the groundwork for developing more effective treatment strategies.

    Keywords: single-cell RNA sequencing, Mast Cells, EGFR signaling pathway, Prognostic model, esophageal cancer

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Zhang, Xiahou, Zuo, Xue and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Shengyi Zhang, Songjiang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
    Yi Zhang, Songjiang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.