PRJNA666068: Comprehensive analysis of metastatic gastric cancer tumor cells using Single-cell RNA-seq

Summary: Gastric cancer (GC) is a leading cause of cancer-induced mortality with poor prognosis with metastasis. However, the mechanism of gastric carcinoma lymph node metastasis remains unknown due to traditional bulk-leveled approaches mask roles of subpopulations. To answer questions from the gastric carcinoma intratumoral perspective in the metastasis, we performed single-cell level analysis on three gastric cancer patients with primary cancer and paired metastatic lymph node cancer tissues using scRNA-seq. Results showed distinct carcinoma profiles from each patient, and diverse microenvironmental subsets were shared by a different patient. Clustering data showed significant intratumoral heterogeneity. Results also revealed a subgroup of cells bridging the metastatic group and primary group, implying the transition state of cancer during the metastatic process. In the present study we obtained a more comprehensive picture over gastric cancer lymph node metastasis, and we discovered some GC lymph node metastasis marker genes (ERBB2, CLDN11 and CDK12), as well as potential gastric cancer evolutionary driving genes (FOS and JUN), which provide a basis for the treatment of heterogeneity.

Overall Design: we performed single-cell level analysis on three gastric cancer patients with primary cancer and paired metastatic lymph node cancer tissues using scRNA-seq