Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the deadliest types of cancer and has a 5-year survival of less than 8% owing to its complex biology. As PDAC is refractory to immunotherapy, we need to understand the functional dynamics of T cells in the PDAC microenvironment to develop alternative therapeutic strategies. In this study, we performed RNA velocity-based pseudotime analysis on a scRNA-seq dataset from surgically resected human PDAC specimens to gain insight into temporal gene expression patterns that best characterize the cell fates. The tumor microenvironment was seen to encompass a range of terminal states for the T cell trajectories with suppressive and non-tumor-responsive T cells dominating them. However, the results also reveal the existence of a functional branch of the T cell population that was not transitioning to exhausted and senescent states. These findings reveal various microenvironmental signals driving T cell patterns which can be useful in identifying new therapeutic avenues.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2023.106324

Type

Journal article

Journal

iScience

Publication Date

21/04/2023

Volume

26