Transfer Learning Reveals Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Are Associated with Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition and Inflammation in Cancer Cells in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Samantha Guinn, Benedict Kinny-Köster, Joseph A. Tandurella, Jacob T. Mitchell, Dimitrios N. Sidiropoulos, Melanie Loth, Melissa R. Lyman, Alexandra B. Pucsek, Daniel J. Zabransky, Jae W. Lee, Emma Kartalia, Mili Ramani, Toni T. Seppälä, Christopher Cherry, Reecha Suri, Haley Zlomke, Jignasha Patel, Jin He, Christopher L. Wolfgang, Jun YuLei Zheng, David P. Ryan, David T. Ting, Alec Kimmelman, Anuj Gupta, Ludmila Danilova, Jennifer H. Elisseeff, Laura D. Wood, Genevieve Stein-O’Brien, Luciane T. Kagohara, Elizabeth M. Jaffee, Richard A. Burkhart, Elana J. Fertig, Jacquelyn W. Zimmerman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive malignancy characterized by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment enriched with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). This study used a convergence approach to identify tumor cell and CAF interactions through the integration of single-cell data from human tumors with human organoid coculture experiments. Analysis of a comprehensive atlas of PDAC single-cell RNA sequencing data indicated that CAF density is associated with increased inflammation and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in epithelial cells. Transfer learning using transcriptional data from patient-derived organoid and CAF cocultures provided in silico validation of CAF induction of inflammatory and EMT epithelial cell states. Further experimental validation in cocultures demonstrated integrin beta 1 (ITGB1) and vascular endothelial factor A (VEGFA) interactions with neuropilin-1 mediating CAF-epithelial cell crosstalk. Together, this study introduces transfer learning from human single-cell data to organoid coculture analyses for experimental validation of discoveries of cell–cell cross-talk and identifies fibroblast-mediated regulation of EMT and inflammation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1517-1533
Number of pages17
JournalCancer Research
Volume84
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2024

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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