ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1658705
Profiling of immune cell subsets and functional characteristics of cervical cancer based on single cell RNA sequencing
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jilin University, Changchun, China
- 2The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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A comprehensive characterization of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is essential to advance understanding of tumor biology and guide immunotherapy development. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we analyzed 14,441 immune cells isolated from tumor tissues and paratumor tissues of three CSCC patients. This analysis identified nine major immune cell subsets, including CD8+ T cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs), natural killer/T cells (NK/T cells), B cells, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), and macrophages. Notably, elevated CCR7 expression in exhausted CD8+ T cells was associated with improved prognosis, suggesting it as a preliminary candidate for an immunoregulatory target that warrants further investigation. Additionally, CCL5 levels were elevated in Tregs, indicating a possible involvement in their recruitment to the tumor site that requires further validation. By integrating data on tumor suppressors, oncogenic factors, cytokines, and chemokines, we performed differential gene expression analyses across immune populations, identifying candidate genes for further mechanistic investigation. This systematic comparison of the TME between tumor and paratumor tissues reveals dynamic changes in the immune landscape, providing insights and suggesting potential targets for further study to enhance understanding and treatment of CSCC.
Keywords: cervical cancer, single-cell RNA sequencing, immune cell, Tumor Microenvironment, CCR7
Received: 03 Jul 2025; Accepted: 07 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yuan, Yang, Xia, Yuan, Sun and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dejun Sun, Jilin University, Changchun, China
Xiaosong Wang, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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