Abstract
Abstract Despite advances in treatment modalities for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) survival rates remain unchanged. Tumor heterogeneity within HNSCC as well as within the tumor microenvironment (TME) has been shown to be a major driver of treatment failure and poor outcomes. A key component of the TME and a potential key to deciphering tumor heterogeneity are cancer stem cells. While numerous studies have demonstrated the tumorigenicity and malignant potential of these cells, few studies have investigated their expression profiles. The aim of this study is to leverage single cell technology to investigate the expression profile of primary HNSCC cancer stem cells. We performed single cell sequencing of five primary HPV-negative head and neck cancers and two HNSCC cell lines that were presorted into the CSC (CD44high/ALDH+) and non-CSC (CD44low/ALDH-) phenotype. We are able to characterize an expression profile of the CSC TME niche and a novel CSC expression profile (DCN, C110rf96, KLF4, MEG3 and NR4A1) relative to non-CSC. We confirm this CSC profile is conserved across all five primary tumors. Together these data provide some of the first insights into CSC transcriptome, further define the CSC-TME niche, and identify conserved targets within HNSCC CSC as a means to decipher the challenges inherent to tumor heterogeneity. Citation Format: Molly E. Heft Neal, Stephanie The, John Henry J. Owen, Clifford Chang, Mark E.P. Prince, Arvind Rao, Steven B. Chinn. Single cell transcriptomic analysis of primary head and neck cancer stem cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Special Conference on Tumor Heterogeneity: From Single Cells to Clinical Impact; 2020 Sep 17-18. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(21 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-006.
Published Version
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