Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the heterogeneity and microenvironment of temporal bone squamous cell carcinoma

Temporal bone squamous cell carcinoma (TBSCC) is the most common subtype of the temporal bone malignancies. Due to its low incidence, high rates of misdiagnosis, and challenges in conducting large-scale studies and clinical trials, its mechanisms of occurrence and progression remain unclear, and both diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers are lacking. These challenges largely depend on our understanding of the tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment of TBSCC. Our study is aiming at revealing the tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment characteristics of TBSCC.

Since single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is an effective tool for studying tumor heterogeneity, we here first reported the scRNA-seq data of TBSCC in this study. We collected and sequenced a total of 113,344 cells from 9 samples (i.e., 5 cancer and 4 histologically verified adjacent normal temporal-bone tissues) of 6 TBSCC patients.

We found the proportion of S-phase cancer cells was higher in samples with tumor invasion, and the pseudo-time trajectory of cancer cells closely corresponded with TBSCC differentiation level. We also detected higher communication intensity between some immune cell pairs in cancer tissues than in histologically verified adjacent normal temporal-bone tissues. Additionally, some cancer-related genes are identified as potential diagnostic markers of TBSCC.

This study is the first to unveil the complex heterogeneity and tumor microenvironment characteristics of TBSCC using scRNA-seq technology, offering new avenues for diagnosing, classifying, and treating this rare carcinoma.