子宫内膜癌 TIL（肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞）的免疫图谱单细胞分析

Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is a gynecological malignancy with a high incidence; however, thorough studies on tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) populations in EC are lacking.

We aimed to map the immune atlas of TILs in type I EC via single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), mass cytometry and flow cytometry analysis.

We found that natural killer (NK) cells and CD8+ T lymphocytes were the major components of TILs in EC patients.

We first identified three transcriptionally distinct NK cell subsets, which are likely to possess diverse anti-tumor functions.

Additionally, CD103+ cells substantially contributed to the CD8+ T cell population. The signature gene expression of CD103+ CD8+ T cells indicated the tissue residency, immunological memory, and exhaustion properties of this cell subset, which were defined as tissue-resident memory T cells (T RM cells).

Moreover, based on scRNA-seq and mass cytometry analysis, we first identified the intrinsic heterogeneity of CD103+ CD8+ T cells that were thought to have a distinct cytotoxicity, cell adhesion and exhaustion status functions. Collectively, distinct subsets of NK cells were found and might shed light on future investigations. CD103+ CD8+ T cell population may be an important immunotherapeutic target in EC and targeting this cell population with combined immunosuppressive therapy might improve the efficacy of immunotherapy for EC.