Abstract 1295: Single cell RNA sequencing of lung adenocarcinoma reveals heterogeneity of immune response-related genes

Abstract

Abstract Immunotherapies have been the most promising approaches to treating cancers, while the partial responses in multiple clinical trials suggest the significance of characterizing intertumoral and intratumoral heterogeneity for better prognosis and decision-making in treatment. The lack of intratumoral characterization of immune response-related genes in cancer cells, however, hinders the further development of metrics to select and predict immunotherapies. Therefore, we applied single cell RNA-seq data from lung adenocarcinoma patients to identify intratumoral heterogeneity of immune response-related genes and demonstrated its potential effect on immunotherapy efficacy. We found IFNγ signaling pathway genes are heterogeneously expressed and co-regulated in cancer single cells, including MHC class II molecules (MHCII), a set of favorable prognosis markers. The upregulation of MHCII is also mutually exclusive with upregulation of cell cycle pathways, which are associated with unfavorable prognosis. Moreover, analysis of two candidates of cancer vaccination approaches, neoantigens and cancer testis antigens, revealed their ectopic expression in single cells. These analyses provide the rationale of applying combinatorial therapies to prevent tumor escape and basis for future development of prognosis metrics based on intratumoral heterogeneity. Citation Format: Keyue Ma, Alexandra A. Schonnesen, S. Gail Eckhardt, Ning Jiang. Single cell RNA sequencing of lung adenocarcinoma reveals heterogeneity of immune response-related genes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1295.