Abstract 6780: Characterization of immunological heterogeneity in the tumor microenvironment by integrated analyses using single cell RNAseq, spatial RNAseq and multiplex IHC
Authors: Lee Seul , Kim Jae-Hwan , Na Kwangmin , Yang Seung Min , Kim Dong Kwon , Baek Sujeong , Kang Seong-san , Han Yu Jin , Synn Chun-Bong , Kim Mi hyun , Han Heekyung , Kim Young Taek , Lee Sungwoo , Byeon Youngseon , Kim Young Seob , Lee Ji Yun , Lee Jii Bum , Kim Chang Gon , Hong Min Hee , Lim Sun Min , Pyo Kyoung-Ho , Cho Byoung Chul 
Published: April 2023

Heterogeneity in resistant to immunotherapies of tumor microenvironment (TME) has been implicated in immunotherapies to cause immune evasion or drug resistance. This study was conducted to explore the heterogeneity of TME through multiplex IHC, spatial and RNA sequencing analysis. We selected a sample from a lung adenocarcinoma patient without EGFR-activating mutation and expressing 30% of PD-L1. For quantitative analysis by multiplex IHC, various markers including CD4, CD8, FoxP3, granzyme B, CD20 and pan-cytokeratin were stained with 7 different fluorescence dyes, which was imaged with Vectra Polaris (Akoya). For scRNAseq and spatial RNAseq, we used 5’ chromium library kit (10X Genomics) to make library construction. Integrated raw data was generated using Cell ranger, Seurat pipeline and Azimuth package. The tumor area was divided into 16 clusters in which we selected 2 clusters based on CD3/45 expression. There was a noticeable distinction between the two clusters which were defined as the ‘High’ region (CD45highCD3high cluster) and the ‘Low’ region (CD45lowCD3low cluster). By multiplex IHC, percentage of CD8+T cells was higher in the ‘High’ region than in the ‘Low’ region (8.5% vs. 0.8%, respectively). Subsequent analysis of two clusters using spatial and single cell RNA seq, the ‘Low’ region was characterized by increased hypoxia-associated gene expressions including HIF1A, HIF3A and VEGFA. Various immune cells were abundant in the ‘High’ region and CD45 expression level was 11-fold higher in the ‘High’ region compared to the ‘Low’ region. Cytokine/chemokine network analysis via spatial RNAseq revealed that gene expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family-associated factors increased in the 'High' region compared to the ‘Low’ region (TNF, FAS, TRAIL, RANKL and CD40), which is well-known to promotes apoptosis, programmed cell death, or necrosis of certain cancer. Additionally, the ‘High’ region also had elevated levels of the PD-1/PD-L1, CD155, CD122/TIGIT, Siglec10/CD24, LAG3/LAGLS3, and CD47/CD172a axes, suggesting active immune responses. Intriguingly, combined analyses showed that ‘High’ region showed enhanced level of CD44 expression as the leading-edged gene, which suggests the metastatic potential of tumor cells. Furthermore, scRNA analysis confirmed that CD44 expression was mainly higher in macrophages, suggesting that tumor-associated macrophages partially affected tumor cell metastasis in the ‘High’ region. Our finding suggests that understanding the intratumoral immunological heterogeneity of lung adenocarcinoma can help to study the mechanism of tumor heterogeneity by integrated spatial RNAseq and scRNAseq analyses. This type of technique could be applied to understand complex networks of anti-tumor immune activities, drug resistance mechanisms and immunotherapeutic response of cancer.

Citation Format: Seul Lee, Jae-Hwan Kim, Kwangmin Na, Seung Min Yang, Dong Kwon Kim, Sujeong Baek, Seong-san Kang, Yu Jin Han, Chun-Bong Synn, Mi hyun Kim, Heekyung Han, Young Taek Kim, Sungwoo Lee, Youngseon Byeon, Young Seob Kim, Ji Yun Lee, Jii Bum Lee, Chang Gon Kim, Min Hee Hong, Sun Min Lim, Kyoung-Ho Pyo, Byoung Chul Cho. Characterization of immunological heterogeneity in the tumor microenvironment by integrated analyses using single cell RNAseq, spatial RNAseq and multiplex IHC [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6780.