AUTHOR=Saleh Reem , Sasidharan Nair Varun , Al-Dhaheri Mahmood , Khawar Mahwish , Abu Nada Mohamed , Alajez Nehad M. , Elkord Eyad 

TITLE=RNA-Seq Analysis of Colorectal Tumor-Infiltrating Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cell Subsets Revealed Gene Signatures of Poor Prognosis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.604906

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2020.604906

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Elevated levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), including polymorphonuclear MDSCs (PMN-MDSCs) and immature MDSCs (I-MDSCs), are usually associated with disease progression in cancer patients, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, biological mechanisms and molecular pathways regulated by MDSC subpopulations in the CRC tumor microenvironment (TME) have not been fully investigated. In this study, we performed transcriptomic analysis of tumor-infiltrating I-MDSCs and PMN-MDSCs isolated from tumor tissues of six CRC patients, compared to antigen-presenting cells (APCs). We also compared the transcriptomic profiles of tumor-infiltrating PMN-MDSCs to I-MDSCs. Our results showed different molecular pathways regulated by each MDSC subset, potentially reflecting their phenotypical/molecular/functional characteristics in the CRC TME. Moreover, we identified gene signatures in PMN-MDSC and I-MDSC of poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset from patients with colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). However, functional studies are required to validate these findings.</p>