Gene

Cell type

Tumor progression

Biology

Lung cancer

Cancer research

Genetics

Exome sequencing

Transcriptome

Tumor microenvironment

Tumor cells

Single cell sequencing

Medicine

Cell

Single-cell analysis

Cancer

Gene expression

Cancer cell

Phenotype

Pathology

Nature Communications

Lung cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease. Cancer cells and cells within the tumor microenvironment together determine disease progression, as well as response to or escape from treatment. To map the cell type-specific transcriptome landscape of cancer cells and their tumor microenvironment in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we analyze 42 tissue biopsy samples from stage III/IV NSCLC patients by single cell RNA sequencing and present the large scale, single cell resolution profiles of advanced NSCLCs. In addition to cell types described in previous single cell studies of early stage lung cancer, we are able to identify rare cell types in tumors such as follicular dendritic cells and T helper 17 cells. Tumors from different patients display large heterogeneity in cellular composition, chromosomal structure, developmental trajectory, intercellular signaling network and phenotype dominance. Our study also reveals a correlation of tumor heterogeneity with tumor associated neutrophils, which might help to shed light on their function in NSCLC.

Single-cell profiling of tumor heterogeneity and the microenvironment in advanced non-small cell lung cancer