Research On The Functional Characteristics Of Immune Microenvironment In Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based On Single Cell Transcriptome Sequencing

Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is one of the malignant tumors with high morbidity and mortality.Its tumor development is closely related to the abnormal immune microenvironment of the body.The existing treatment methods for HCC are mainly clinical surgery,and the effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy is limited,research on immunological mechanism can provide new treatment strategies for HCC treatment.The tumor’s immune microenvironment is highly heterogeneous,different types of cells mutually regulate the occurrence and development of tumors.Single-cell sequencing technology overcomes the disadvantages of traditional sequencing that cannot effectively identify different cell types and their functions.Based on the single-cell level,it reveals accurate and detailed cell status,which helps to fully understand the immune microenvironment composition of HCC and provide reference for personalized immunotherapy of HCC.In this article,we performed single-cell transcriptome sequencing based on 6tumor and paracancerous specimens obtained from clinical HCC patients.After clustering analysis on 24267 cells,19 cell subgroups were obtained,and functional annotations were made for each subpopulation.After that,an in-depth analysis was conducted based on the defined 19 cell subgroups,which mainly included characterizing the functional characteristics of each cell subtype,describing the path of cell development and differentiation,exploring the interaction between cells,analyzing the gene regulatory network within the subgroup,and mining survival related Targets of immunotherapy.Based on these five dimensions,we expanded the functional status of the previously reported cell subpopulations and discovered a new macrophage subpopulation(CD3~+macrophage)that was not reported in previous studies.We think that this subtype of cells may promote the differentiation of effector T cells and enhance the effector function through the complement signaling pathway,thereby exerting a tumor suppressor effect.Survival analysis further verified that the high enrichment of this subgroup of cells in patients can significantly improve the prognosis of HCC.In conclusion,this study provides a single-cell atlas of the immune microenvironment for hepatocellular carcinoma,reveals the functional status and development trajectory of different cell types,and discovers new immune cell types,suggests potential immunotherapy targets,which provides reference and ideas for HCC’s Immunotherapy.