Single-cell RNA sequencing of human fallopian tubes

The inter-differentiation between cell states promotes cancer cell survival under stress and fosters non-genetic heterogeneity (NGH). NGH is, therefore, a surrogate of tumor resilience but its quantification is confounded by genetic heterogeneity. Here we show that NGH can be accurately measured when informed by the molecular signatures of the normal cells of origin. We surveyed the transcriptomes of ~ 4000 normal fallopian tube epithelial (FTE) cells, the cells of origin of serous ovarian cancer (SOC), and identified six FTE subtypes. We used subtype signatures to deconvolute SOC expression data and found substantial intra-tumor NGH that was previously unrecognized. Importantly, NGH-based stratification of ~1700 tumors robustly predicted survival. Our findings lay the foundation for accurate prognostic and therapeutic stratification of SOC. Sequenced cells, mainly epithelial cells, from normal fallopian tubes of eleven cancer patients to study the cell populations in the human fallopian tube epithelium