Biology subjects

Goh, B. K. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Goh, B. K. P..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Single-cell and spatial atlas of steatotic liver-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Steatotic liver disease-related hepatocellular carcinoma (SLD-HCC) poses significant challenges in liver cancer management. Our current study investigates the tumor microenvironment (TME) of SLD-HCC using single-cell transcriptomic, proteomic and spatial transcriptomic analyses. We identified altered immune-related and lipid metabolism pathways, particularly in regulatory T cells (Tregs) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) within the SLD-HCC microenvironment, suggesting distinct cellular adaptations to a high-fat TME and general immunosuppression. Cytometry by time-of-flight revealed a cold and immunosuppressive TME depleted with CD8+ T cells and enriched with Tregs, while spatial transcriptomics uncovered a unique spatial architecture with Treg/CAF clusters specifically located at the tumor margins in SLD-HCC. Crucially, we identified Treg-CAF interactions as a key mediator associated with lack of response to immunotherapy in SLD-HCC. Our findings highlight the intricate immune dynamics of SLD-HCC, indicating potential therapeutic targets to counteract immune evasion and restore anti-tumor immunity in SLD-HCC. HighlightsO_LIThe TME of SLD-HCC exhibits altered immune and lipid pathways C_LIO_LIImmunosuppressive SLD-HCC TME is depleted with CD8+ T cells and enriched with Tregs C_LIO_LISLD-HCC has a unique spatial architecture with Treg-CAF clusters at tumor margins C_LIO_LITreg-CAF interaction via TNFSF14-TNFRSF14 axis mediates immunotherapy resistance C_LI

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Multi-region spatial transcriptome analysis reveals cellular networks and pathways associated with hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence

Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) are driven by various etiologies and molecular diversity at presentation. Patient prognosis post-surgery is generally dismal, and the majority respond poorly to adjuvant targeted and/or immuno-therapies. Tumours are an ecosystem comprised of organization and interaction between different cell types that may contribute to clinically significant outcomes, such as disease recurrence. To better understand this phenomenon, we leveraged on a local cohort of patients with or without recurrence to generate spatial transcriptome profiles from multiple sectors from each tumour. We identified widespread gene expression intra- and inter tumour heterogeneity observed across the tumour sectors. Our analysis also revealed the cell type enrichment and localization, and ligand-receptor interactions identify a specific subset of endothelial cell enriched in primary tumours of patients with recurrence. Altogether, this study describes the spatial gene expression landscape in HCC patients associated with disease recurrence.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2020

scRNA-seq reveals ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression in TROP2+ Liver Progenitor Cells: Implications in COVID-19 associated Liver Dysfunction

The recent pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 was first reported in China (December 2019) and now prevalent in [~]170 countries across the globe. Entry of SARS-CoV-2 into mammalian cells require the binding of viral Spike (S) proteins to the ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2) receptor. Once entered the S protein is primed by a specialised serine protease, TMPRSS2 (Transmembrane Serine Protease 2) in the host cell. Importantly, beside respiratory symptoms, consistent with other common respiratory virus infection when patients become viraemic, a significant number of COVID-19 patients also develop liver comorbidities. We explored if specific target cell-type in the mammalian liver, could be implicated in disease pathophysiology other than the general deleterious response to cytokine storms. Here we employed single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) to survey the human liver and identified potentially implicated liver cell-type for viral ingress. We report the co-expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in a TROP2+ liver progenitor population. Importantly, we fail to detect the expression of ACE2 in hepatocyte or any other liver (immune and stromal) cell types. These results indicated that in COVID-19 associated liver dysfunction and cell death, viral infection of TROP2+ progenitors in liver may significantly impaired liver regeneration and could lead to pathology. Highlights- EPCAM+ Liver progenitors co-express ACE2 and TMPRSS2 - ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression is highest in TROP2high progenitors - ACE2 and TMPRSS2 cells express cholangiocyte biased fate markers - ACE2 and TMPRSS2 positive cells are absent in human fetal liver

genomics↗