Abstract

Characterizing the compositional and phenotypic characteristics of tumor-infiltrating B cells (TIBs) is important for advancing our understanding of their role in cancer development. Here, we establish a comprehensive resource of human B cells by integrating single-cell RNA sequencing data of B cells from 649 patients across 19 major cancer types. We demonstrate substantial heterogeneity in their total abundance and subtype composition and observe immunoglobulin G (IgG)-skewness of antibody-secreting cell isotypes. Moreover, we identify stress-response memory B cells and tumor-associated atypical B cells (TAABs), two tumor-enriched subpopulations with prognostic potential, shared in a pan-cancer manner. In particular, TAABs, characterized by a high clonal expansion level and proliferative capacity as well as by close interactions with activated CD4 T cells in tumors, are predictive of immunotherapy response. Our integrative resource depicts distinct clinically relevant TIB subsets, laying a foundation for further exploration of functional commonality and diversity of B cells in cancer.

Title

Pan-cancer single-cell dissection reveals phenotypically distinct B cell subtypes

Authors

Yu Yang, Xueyan Chen, Jieying Pan, Huiheng Ning, Yaojun Zhang, Yufei Bo, Xianwen Ren, Jiesheng Li, Shishang Qin, Dongfang Wang, Min-Min Chen, Zemin Zhang

Journal Information

Cell, Volume 187, Issue 17, 22 August 2024, Pages 4551-4553

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.038

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