Spatial and single-nuclei transcriptomics reveals idiosyncratic and generic patterns in papillary and anaplastic thyroid cancers.

Abstract

Sixty percent of papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs) are driven by BRAF^V600E, a mutation associated with high inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity. PTCs may become highly aggressive anaplastic thyroid cancers (ATCs). While single-cell transcriptomics may resolve this heterogeneity, it is potentially confounded by technical effects whose correction may dampen inter-tumor variations. Here we profiled ATCs and BRAF^V600E PTCs with single-nuclei RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics, and an experimental design disentangling biological and technical variations. It reveals that much transcriptional variation in cancer cells and several immune cell types is idiosyncratic, that is, tumor-specific, a phenomenon obscured by batch integration in a number of single-cell studies. Idiosyncrasies are associated in some cases with genomic aberrations and global tissue states like hypoxia. Beyond idiosyncrasies, differentiation markers SLC5A5 (NIS), TPO, TG, and TSHR are lost in a sequence mirrored by their gain during human thyroid organoids maturation, suggesting a new classification of cancer cell states. PTC cells retain TSHR expression and show features of partial epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) with a massive expression of FN1, which promotes proliferation via an autocrine loop. In contrast, ATCs undergo full-scale EMT, with expression of mesenchymal extracellular components and loss of TSHR. Finally, we show that the microenvironment of cancer cells is driven by inflammation. These findings may help future stratifications of BRAF^V600E PTCs.