Single-cell landscape of the cellular microenvironment in three different colonic polyp subtypes in children

Background: The understanding of the heterogeneous cellular microenvironment of colonic polyps in paediatric patients with solitary juvenile polyps (SJPs), polyposis syndrome (PJS) and Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) remains limited.

Methods: We conducted single-cell RNA sequencing and multiplexed immunohistochemistry (mIHC) analyses on both normal colonic tissue and different types of colonic polyps obtained from paediatric patients.

Results: We identified both shared and disease-specific cell subsets and expression patterns that played important roles in shaping the unique cellular microenvironments observed in each polyp subtype. As such, increased myeloid, endothelial and epithelial cells were the most prominent features of SJP, JPS and PJS polyps, respectively. Noticeably, memory B cells were increased, and a cluster of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like colonocytes existed across all polyp subtypes. Abundant neutrophil infiltration was observed in SJP polyps, while CX3CR1^hi CD8⁺ T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) were predominant in SJP and JPS polyps, while GZMA^hi natural killer T cells were predominant in PJS polyps. Compared with normal colonic tissues, myeloid cells exhibited specific induction of genes involved in chemotaxis and interferon-related pathways in SJP polyps, whereas fibroblasts in JPS polyps had upregulation of myofiber-associated genes and epithelial cells in PJS polyps exhibited induction of a series of nutrient absorption-related genes. In addition, the TNF-α response was uniformly upregulated in most cell subsets across all polyp subtypes, while endothelial cells and fibroblasts separately showed upregulated cell adhesion and EMT signalling in SJP and JPS polyps. Cell-cell interaction network analysis showed markedly enhanced intercellular communication, such as TNF, VEGF, CXCL and collagen signalling networks, among most cell subsets in polyps, especially SJP and JPS polyps.

Conclusion: These findings strengthen our understanding of the heterogeneous cellular microenvironment of polyp subtypes and identify potential therapeutic approaches to reduce the recurrence of polyps in children.

cellular microenvironment; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; paediatric colonic polyps; scRNA-seq.