Recent developments in application of single-cell RNA sequencing in the tumour immune microenvironment and cancer therapy

Table 2 Potential targets in the TIME indicated by scRNA-seq

Potential targets	Mechanisms	Potential targets	Therapeutic intervention
Malignant cells	Inactivation of antigen presentation	ADAR1 [163]	–
	Depletion and dysfunction of CD8⁺ T cells	MUC1-C [164]	–
	Macrophage exhaustion	PDIA5 [165]	–
	Inhibition of ICOSL⁺ B-cells	CD55 [166]	–
Exhausted CD8⁺ T cells	Dysfunction of T cells	PMEL, TYRP1, and EDNRB [158]	–
CD8⁺ T cells	Transcriptional regulators determining T cell fates	FOXO1, KDM5B, MAF, IKZF2, SOX4, and BCL3 [110]	–
NK cells	Inhibitory and costimulatory molecules	TNFRSF18 (GITR), CD96, and KIR2DL4 [110]	–
	HIF-1α, reducing antitumor effects	HIF-1α inhibitor [167]	–
Immature myeloid cells	Immune suppression	–	Tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib [168]
TREM2⁺ TAMs	Associated with T-cell response	–	Antibodies targeting TREM2 [160, 161]
PD-L1⁺ TAMs and APOE⁺ G-MDSCs	T-cell inhibition induced by TAMs and G-MDSCs	–	anti-CSF1R and anti-Ly6G antibodies [157]
vCAFs/ICC	Enhancement of malignancy	IL-6 [162]	–
CAFs/malignant cells	Immune evasion	PVR-TIGIT, LGALS9-HAVCR2, and TGF-β-TGF-βR axis [169]	–
PLVAP/VEGFR2 ECs/FOLR2 TAMs	Onco-foetal reprogramming of the tumour ecosystem	VEGF/NOTCH [170]	–
Malignant cells/IL-17-producing T cells	Activation of angiogenesis and suppression of CD8⁺ T cells	–	IL-17 blockade [171]
CXCL13⁺ T cells/B cells	Associated with prognosis	CXCL13/CXCR5 [172]	–

“–” no evidence applied by studies, TIME tumour immune microenvironment, NK natural killer, TREM2 triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2, TAMs tumour-associated macrophages, PD-L1 programmed cell death-Ligand 1, APOE apolipoprotein E, G-MDSCs granulocytic-myeloid-derived suppressor cells, CAFs cancer-associated fibroblasts, vCAFs vascular CAFs, ICC intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, PLVAP plasmalemma vesicle associated protein, VEGFR2 vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, ECs endothelial cells, FOLR2 folate receptor beta, ICOSL inducible T-cell co-stimulator ligand, HIF-1α hypoxia induced factor-1α, ADAR1 adenosine deaminase RNA specific 1, MUC1-C mucin 1 C-terminal subunit, PDIA5 protein disulfide isomerase family A member 5, PMEL premelanosome protein, TYRP1 tyrosinase related protein 1, EDNRB endothelin receptor type B, FOXO1 forkhead box O1, KDM5B lysine demethylase 5B, MAF macrophage activating factor, IKZF2 IKAROS family zinc finger 2, SOX4 SRY-box transcription factor 4, BCL3 β-cell CLL/lymphoma 3, TNFRSF18 TNF receptor superfamily member 18, TIGIT T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains, HAVCR2 hepatitis A virus cellular receptor 2, VEGF vascular endothelial growth factor, TGF-β transforming growth factor beta, TGF-βR transforming growth factor beta receptor, IL-6 interleukin 6

ISSN: 2054-9369