Single-cell transcriptomics in ovarian cancer identify a metastasis-associated cell cluster overexpressed RAB13.

Metastasis, the leading cause of cancer-related death in patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer (OC), is a complex process that involves multiple biological effects. With the continuous development of sequencing technology, single-cell sequence has emerged as a promising strategy to understand the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. Through integrating 10 × single-cell data from 12 samples, we developed a single-cell map of primary and metastatic OC. By copy-number variations analysis, pseudotime analysis, enrichment analysis, and cell-cell communication analysis, we explored the heterogeneity among OC cells. We performed differential expression analysis and high dimensional weighted gene co-expression network analysis to identify the hub genes of C4. The effects of RAB13 on OC cell lines were validated in vitro. We discovered a cell subcluster, referred to as C4, that is closely associated with metastasis and poor prognosis in OC. This subcluster correlated with an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and angiogenesis signature and RAB13 was identified as the key marker of it. Downregulation of RAB13 resulted in a reduction of OC cells migration and invasion. Additionally, we predicted several potential drugs that might inhibit RAB13. Our study has identified a cell subcluster that is closely linked to metastasis in OC, and we have also identified RAB13 as its hub gene that has great potential to become a new therapeutic target for OC. © 2023. The Author(s).

Citation

Jiahao Guo, Xiaoyang Han, Jie Li, Zhefeng Li, Junjie Yi, Yan Gao, Xiaoting Zhao, Wentao Yue. Single-cell transcriptomics in ovarian cancer identify a metastasis-associated cell cluster overexpressed RAB13. Journal of translational medicine. 2023 Apr 12;21(1):254

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PMID: 37046345

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