Identifying a confused cell identity for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Xiangyu PanJian WangLinjie GuoFeifei NaJiajia DuXuelan ChenAiling ZhongLei ZhaoLu ZhangMengsha ZhangXudong WanManli WangHongyu LiuSiqi DaiPing TanJingyao ChenYu LiuBing HuChong ChenPublished in: Signal transduction and targeted therapy (2022)
The cell identity of malignant cells and how they acquire it are fundamental for our understanding of cancer. Here, we report that esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells display molecular features equally similar but distinct to all three types of normal esophageal epithelial cells, which we term as confused cell identity (CCI). CCI is an independent prognostic marker associated with poor prognosis in ESCC. Further, we identify tropomyosin 4 (TPM4) as a critical CCI gene that promotes the aggressiveness of ESCC in vitro and in vivo. And TPM4 creates CCI through activating the Jak/STAT-SOX2 pathway. Thus, our study suggests an unrecognized feature of ESCC cells, which might be of value for clinic prognosis and potential interference.
Keyphrases
- induced apoptosis
- poor prognosis
- neuropathic pain
- cell cycle arrest
- single cell
- long non coding rna
- cell therapy
- signaling pathway
- machine learning
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- preterm infants
- spinal cord injury
- squamous cell carcinoma
- deep learning
- genome wide
- lymph node metastasis
- gestational age
- neural network
- squamous cell