Deciphering head and neck cancer microenvironment: Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics reveals human papillomavirus-associated differences

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major causative factor of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and the incidence of HPV-associated HNSCC is increasing. The role of tumor microenvironment (TME) in viral infection and metastasis needs to be explored further. Thus we studied the molecular characteristics of primary tumors (PTs) and lymph node metastatic tumors (LNMTs) by stratifying them based on their HPV status using spatial transcriptomics. Overall design: Six samples for spatial transcriptomics (ST), composed of matched primary tumors (PT) and lymph node metastases (LNMT), were collected from both HPV-negative (HPV-) and HPV-positive (HPV+) patients using the 10x Genomics Visium platform.

人乳头瘤病毒（Human papillomavirus, HPV）是头颈部鳞状细胞癌（head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, HNSCC）的主要致病因素，且HPV相关HNSCC的发病率呈逐年上升趋势。肿瘤微环境（tumor microenvironment, TME）在病毒感染与肿瘤转移过程中的作用仍有待进一步阐明。为此，本研究基于患者的HPV感染状态进行分层，利用空间转录组学（spatial transcriptomics）技术分析原发性肿瘤（primary tumors, PTs）与淋巴结转移性肿瘤（lymph node metastatic tumors, LNMTs）的分子特征。研究设计概况：本研究采用10x Genomics Visium平台，从HPV阴性（HPV-）与HPV阳性（HPV+）患者中各采集成对的原发性肿瘤（PT）与淋巴结转移瘤（LNMT）样本，共计6份用于空间转录组学（ST）分析。