Single-cell transcriptomics of pediatric Burkitt lymphoma reveals intra-tumor heterogeneity and markers of therapy resistance

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the most frequent B-cell lymphoma in pediatric patients. While most patients are cured, a fraction of them are resistant to therapy. To investigate BL heterogeneity and the features distinguishing therapy responders (R) from non-responders (NR), we analyzed by single-cell (sc)-transcriptomics diagnostic EBV-negative BL specimens. Analysis of the non-tumor component revealed a predominance of immune cells and a small representation of fibroblasts, enriched in NR. Tumors displayed patient-specific features, as well as shared subpopulations that expressed transcripts related to cell cycle, signaling pathways and cell-of-origin signatures. Several transcripts were differentially expressed in R versus NR. The top candidate, Tropomyosin 2 (TPM2), a member of the tropomyosin actin filament binding protein family, was confirmed to be significantly higher in NR both at the transcript and protein level. Stratification of patients based on TPM2 expression at diagnosis significantly correlated with prognosis, independently of TP53 mutations. These results indicate that BL displays transcriptional heterogeneity and identify candidate biomarkers of therapy resistance.