Diagnostic Accuracy Study - Interaction between microglial cells and CD1C+ B dendritic cells leads to CD8+ T cells depletion during the early stages of renal clear cell carcinoma - Evidence synthesis

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Oliver

Renal clear cell carcinoma (RCC) is an aggressive malignancy with increasing incidence, and immunotherapy effects vary due to the tumor microenvironment and infiltrating immune populations. A scRNA-seq dataset from GEO was processed with quality control, clustering, and cell identification to quantify immune-cell types and proportions, examine cellular differences, and profile differential gene expression. STRING-based protein-protein interaction mapping and KEGG/GO enrichment were used to assess abnormal pathway activity. Multiplex immunofluorescence detected CD68+ microglia and CD11C+ CD1C+ B dendritic cells, revealing exhausted CD8+ T-cell depletion in tumors alongside microglial presence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages10

Reading Time25 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Background and clinical need

Immunotherapy and tumor microenvironment context

® Diagnostic Accuracy Study Interaction between microglial cells and CD1C+ B dendritic cells leads to CD8+ T cells depletion during the early stages of renal clear cell carcinoma Zixuan Lin, MDa , Liping Wang, PhDb ,* , Yaozong Niu, MDb , Zhaopeng Xie, MDb , Xiaohan Zhao, MDa | Abstract
Renal clear cell carcinoma (RCC) is a type of malignant tumor, which, in addition to surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, has been widely treated through immunotherapy recently. However, the influence of the tumor microenvironment and the infiltrating immune cells within it on immunotherapy remains unclear. It is imperative to study the interactions between various immune cells of RCC. The scRNA-seq dataset from GEO’s database was used to analyze the immune cells present in tumor tissue and peripheral blood samples. Through quality control, clustering, and identification, the types and proportions of infiltrating immune cells were determined. The cellular differences were determined, and gene expression levels of the differentially present cells were investigated. A protein-protein interaction network analysis was performed using string. KEGG and GO analyses were performed to investigate abnormal activities. The microglia marker CD68 and CD1C+ B dendritic cells marker CD11C were detected using multiplex immunofluorescence staining. Many depleted CD8+ T cells (exhausted CD8+ T cells) appeared in tumor tissues as well as microglia. CD1C+ B dendritic cells did not infiltrate tumor tissues. HSPA1A was correlated with DNAJB1 in microglia. Compared with Paracancer tissues, microglia increased while CD1C+ B dendritic cells decreased in pathological stages I and I-II in cancerous tissues. An altered tumor microenvironment caused by increases in microglia in RCC in the early stage resulted in an inability of CD1C+ B dendritic cells to infiltrate, resulting in CD8+ T cells being unable to receive the antigens presented by them, and in turn being depleted in large quantities. | | --- | | Abbreviations: CC = cell component, HVGs = highly variable genes, MHC = major histocompatibility complex, PCA = principal component analysis, PG = pathological grade, PPI = protein-protein interaction, RCC = renal clear cell carcinoma, TME = tumor microenvironment, TNM = tumor node metastasis. | | Keywords: CD1C+ B dendritic cells, CD8+ T cells, microglial cells, renal clear cell carcinoma, tumor microenvironment | 1. Introduction Renal clear cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common and aggressive subtype of renal cell carcinoma that has no obvious symptoms in its early stage; most patients have advanced stages of the disease upon detection, and thus a very high mortality rate.[1] Thus early detection and diagnosis of RCC is of significance. The incidence of RCC has increased continuously over the past few decades, resulting in over 330,000 cases and more than 140,000 cancer-related deaths worldwide every year. Approximately 65,340 cases of kidney cancer are expected tobe diagnosed in the United States in 2018, resulting in an estimated 14,970 deaths. The peak age of RCC onset is 60 to 70 ZL and LW contributed equally to this work. This work was supported by grants from the central government guides local SciTech Development funds (YDZX2022091). The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Data accessibility: GSE121636 and GSE53000. Supplemental Digital Content is available for this article. a College of Sport and Health, Shandong Sport University, Jinan, China, b College of Sport and Art, Shandong Sport University, Jinan, China. * Correspondence: Liping Wang, College of Sport and Art, Shandong Sport University, 10600 Century Avenue, Jinan, Shandong, 330013, China ([e-mail: 412149666@qq.com](e-mail: 412149666@qq.com)). years old, and its incidence

FAQs

What was the main goal of the study in RCC immunotherapy?

To clarify how interactions among immune cells within the RCC tumor microenvironment affect immunotherapy outcomes, particularly by examining immune-cell infiltration and resulting immune-cell depletion.

Which datasets and analytical steps were used to profile immune cells?

The study used a scRNA-seq dataset from GEO, followed by quality control, clustering, identification of immune-cell types, and analysis of differential gene expression.

What key immune-cell findings were reported in early-stage renal clear cell carcinoma?

Exhausted/depleted CD8+ T cells were observed in tumor tissues together with microglia, while CD1C+ B dendritic cells did not infiltrate tumor tissues, suggesting an impaired antigen presentation pathway.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Oliver