KRT17High/CXCL8+ tumor cells display both classical and basal features and regulate myeloid infiltration in the pancreatic cancer microenvironment.

Recent studies have uncovered the co-existence of basal and classical subtypes within pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We sought to characterize these intermediary cells using single-cell RNA sequencing of PDAC. We performed subtyping on 18 single-cell RNA sequencing human PDAC samples to identify multiple intermediary subtypes. We compared single-cell profiling of patient-matched blood and tumor samples to measure changes in the local and systemic immune microenvironments in CXCL8-high tumors vs. CXCL8-low tumors. Finally, we leveraged longitudinally patient-matched blood over the course of chemotherapy. In our studies we identified a cluster of KRT17high intermediary cancer cells that uniquely express high levels of CXCL8 and other cytokines which in turn influence the myeloid... (for more see dbGaP study page.)