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Carpenter ES, Elhossiny AM, Kadiyala P, Li J, McGue J, Griffith BD, Zhang Y, Edwards J, Nelson S, Lima F, Donahue KL, Du W, Bischoff AC, Alomari D, Watkoske HR, Mattea M, The S, Espinoza CE, Barrett M, Sonnenday CJ, Olden N, Chen CT, Peterson N, Gunchick V, Sahai V, Rao A, Bednar F, Shi J, Frankel TL, Pasca di Magliano M. Analysis of Donor Pancreata Defines the Transcriptomic Signature and Microenvironment of Early Neoplastic Lesions. Cancer Discov 2023; 13:1324-1345. [PMID: 37021392 PMCID: PMC10236159 DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-23-0013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023]
Abstract
The adult healthy human pancreas has been poorly studied given the lack of indication to obtain tissue from the pancreas in the absence of disease and rapid postmortem degradation. We obtained pancreata from brain dead donors, thus avoiding any warm ischemia time. The 30 donors were diverse in age and race and had no known pancreas disease. Histopathologic analysis of the samples revealed pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) lesions in most individuals irrespective of age. Using a combination of multiplex IHC, single-cell RNA sequencing, and spatial transcriptomics, we provide the first-ever characterization of the unique microenvironment of the adult human pancreas and of sporadic PanIN lesions. We compared healthy pancreata to pancreatic cancer and peritumoral tissue and observed distinct transcriptomic signatures in fibroblasts and, to a lesser extent, macrophages. PanIN epithelial cells from healthy pancreata were remarkably transcriptionally similar to cancer cells, suggesting that neoplastic pathways are initiated early in tumorigenesis. SIGNIFICANCE Precursor lesions to pancreatic cancer are poorly characterized. We analyzed donor pancreata and discovered that precursor lesions are detected at a much higher rate than the incidence of pancreatic cancer, setting the stage for efforts to elucidate the microenvironmental and cell-intrinsic factors that restrain or, conversely, promote malignant progression. See related commentary by Hoffman and Dougan, p. 1288. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1275.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eileen S. Carpenter
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Ahmed M. Elhossiny
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Padma Kadiyala
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Jay Li
- Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Jake McGue
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | | | - Yaqing Zhang
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Jacob Edwards
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Sarah Nelson
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Fatima Lima
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | | | - Wenting Du
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | | | - Danyah Alomari
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | | | - Michael Mattea
- Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Stephanie The
- Cancer Data Science Resource, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | | | - Meredith Barrett
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | | | | | - Chin-Tung Chen
- Colorectal Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
| | - Nicole Peterson
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Valerie Gunchick
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Vaibhav Sahai
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Arvind Rao
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Cancer Data Science Resource, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Filip Bednar
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Jiaqi Shi
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Pathology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Timothy L. Frankel
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Immunology Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Marina Pasca di Magliano
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Du W, Menjivar RE, Donahue KL, Kadiyala P, Velez-Delgado A, Brown KL, Watkoske HR, He X, Carpenter ES, Angeles CV, Zhang Y, Pasca di Magliano M. WNT signaling in the tumor microenvironment promotes immunosuppression in murine pancreatic cancer. J Exp Med 2023; 220:e20220503. [PMID: 36239683 PMCID: PMC9577101 DOI: 10.1084/jem.20220503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is associated with activation of WNT signaling. Whether this signaling pathway regulates the tumor microenvironment has remained unexplored. Through single-cell RNA sequencing of human pancreatic cancer, we discovered that tumor-infiltrating CD4+ T cells express TCF7, encoding for the transcription factor TCF1. We conditionally inactivated Tcf7 in CD4 expressing T cells in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer and observed changes in the tumor immune microenvironment, including more CD8+ T cells and fewer regulatory T cells, but also compensatory upregulation of PD-L1. We then used a clinically available inhibitor of Porcupine, a key component of WNT signaling, and observed similar reprogramming of the immune response. WNT signaling inhibition has limited therapeutic window due to toxicity, and PD-L1 blockade has been ineffective in PDA. Here, we show that combination targeting reduces pancreatic cancer growth in an experimental model and might benefit the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenting Du
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Rosa E. Menjivar
- Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | | | - Padma Kadiyala
- Immunology Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Ashley Velez-Delgado
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | | | | | - Xi He
- College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Eileen S. Carpenter
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Christina V. Angeles
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Yaqing Zhang
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
| | - Marina Pasca di Magliano
- Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
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