Alexander T. F. Bell, Peter Chianchiano, Katsuya Hirose, Daniel Salas-Escabillas, Doreen M. Zucha, Jacob T. Mitchell, Ludmila Danilova, Alexander I. Damanakis, Joseph A. Tandurella, Jeanette Johnson, Jing Zhu, James R. Eshleman, Qingfeng Zhu, Robert A. Anders, Luciane T. Kagohara, Elana J. Fertig, Laura D. Wood
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), venous invasion (VI) is a critical step in metastasis and is associated with poor survival. However, little is known about the molecular features of VI. To investigate, we performed spatial transcriptomic analysis of 95 human PDAC tissue samples from eight treatment-naïve patients. Our analysis revealed that, compared with PDAC in stroma, PDAC with VI demonstrated up-regulation of genes associated with epithelial differentiation, classical subtype, and benign exocrine function. Conversely, PDAC with VI demonstrated down-regulation of genes associated with mesenchymal differentiation, basal-like subtype, and disease aggression. Additionally, we uncovered characteristics of VI morphology that correlated with these molecular features. VI–intraepithelial neoplasia–like foci had preserved venous architecture and had a classical, epithelial molecular phenotype, whereas VI-destructive foci had destroyed venous architecture and had a more basal-like, mesenchymal phenotype. We contextualized our findings using public RNA-seq data and observed that metastatic PDAC had greater similarity to PDAC in stroma than to PDAC with VI, whereas circulating tumor cells showed no preferential association. We confirmed our findings by spatial proteomic analysis of VI in an independent cohort of 19 treatment-naïve patients with PDAC. Overall, our work provides a reference atlas of spatial transcriptomics and proteomics of VI in PDAC and reveals unexpected increases in molecular features associated with better patient outcomes.
期刊介绍:
Science Translational Medicine is an online journal that focuses on publishing research at the intersection of science, engineering, and medicine. The goal of the journal is to promote human health by providing a platform for researchers from various disciplines to communicate their latest advancements in biomedical, translational, and clinical research.
The journal aims to address the slow translation of scientific knowledge into effective treatments and health measures. It publishes articles that fill the knowledge gaps between preclinical research and medical applications, with a focus on accelerating the translation of knowledge into new ways of preventing, diagnosing, and treating human diseases.
The scope of Science Translational Medicine includes various areas such as cardiovascular disease, immunology/vaccines, metabolism/diabetes/obesity, neuroscience/neurology/psychiatry, cancer, infectious diseases, policy, behavior, bioengineering, chemical genomics/drug discovery, imaging, applied physical sciences, medical nanotechnology, drug delivery, biomarkers, gene therapy/regenerative medicine, toxicology and pharmacokinetics, data mining, cell culture, animal and human studies, medical informatics, and other interdisciplinary approaches to medicine.
The target audience of the journal includes researchers and management in academia, government, and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. It is also relevant to physician scientists, regulators, policy makers, investors, business developers, and funding agencies.