A single-cell epigenetic atlas of human IDH-mutant glioma

Recent single-cell transcriptomic studies report that IDH-mutant gliomas share a common hierarchy of cellular phenotypes, independent of genetic subtype. However, the genetic differences between IDH-mutant glioma subtypes are prognostic, predictive of response to chemotherapy, and correlate with distinct tumor microenvironments. To reconcile these findings, we profiled 22 human IDH-mutant gliomas via single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (scATAC-seq). We determined the cell-type specific differences in transcription-factor expression and associated regulatory grammars between IDH-mutant glioma subtypes. We find that while IDH-mutant gliomas do share a common distribution of cell types, there are significant differences in the expression and targeting of transcription factors that regulate glial identity and cytokine elaboration. We knocked out the chromatin-remodeler ATRX, which suffers loss-of-function alterations in most IDH-mutant astrocytomas, in an IDH-mutant immunocompetent intracranial murine model. We find that both human ATRX-mutant gliomas and murine ATRX-knockout gliomas are more heavily infiltrated by immunosuppressive monocytic-lineage cells derived from circulation than ATRX-intact gliomas, in an IDH-mutant background. ATRX knockout in murine glioma recapitulates gene expression and open-chromatin signatures that are specific to human ATRX-mutant astrocytomas, including drivers of astrocytic lineage and immune-cell chemotaxis. ATRX knockout in murine glioma recapitulates gene expression and open chromatin signatures that are specific to human ATRX-mutant astrocytomas, including drivers of astrocytic lineage and immune-cell chemotaxis. Through single-cell cleavage under targets and tagmentation assays and meta-analysis of public data, we show that ATRX loss leads to a global depletion in CCCTC-binding factor association with DNA, gene dysregulation along associated chromatin loops, and protection from therapy-induced senescence. We profiled specimens from 22 grade-II/III IDH-mutant untreated human gliomas via single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (scATAC-seq). We profiled murine IDH1R132H+/ATRX-KO and IDH1R132H/ATRX-intact gliomas via scATAC-seq, snRNA-seq, and anti-CTCF snCUT&Tag. *** Raw data not available due to privacy concerns.