A study on the radiosensitivity of radiation-induced lung injury at the acute phase based on single-cell transcriptomics

Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is the most common complication associated with chest tumors, such as lung and breast cancers, after radiotherapy; however, the pathogenic mechanisms are unclear.Here, a single-cell transcriptome map was established in a mouse model of acute RILI. In total, 18,500 single-cell transcripts were generated, and 10 major cell types were identified. The heterogeneity and radiosensitivity of each cell type or subtype in the lung tissues during the acute stage were revealed. It was found that immune cells had higher radiosensitivity than stromal cells. Immune cells were highly heterogeneous in terms of radiosensitivity, while some immune cells had the characteristics of radiation resistance. Two groups of radiation-induced Cd8+Mki67+ T cells and Cd4+Cxcr6+ helper T cells were identified. In summary, This study investigated the dynamic changes in the cellular microenvironment during acute lung injury. Overall design: Four male C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice (two for each strain) were split into control and radiation groups, with one mouse in each group for each strain. For the radiation group, mice were exposed to a single dose of 20 gray (Gy) at a dose rate of 153.56 cGy/min on the thoraces to induce lung injury in vivo. The mice were sacrificed 1 day after irradiation, and the lungs were collected for experiments.