No abstract

To gain mechanistic insights into the functions and developmental dynamics of tumor-infiltrated immune cells, especially B-lymphocytes, here we combine single-cell RNA-sequencing and antigen receptor lineage analysis to characterize a large number of triple-negative breast cancer infiltrated immune cells and report a comprehensive atlas of tumor-infiltrated B-lymphocytes. The single-cell transcriptional profiles reveal significant heterogeneity in tumor-infiltrated B-cell subgroups. The single-cell antigen receptor analyses demonstrate that compared with those in peripheral blood, tumor-infiltrated B-cells have more mature and memory B-cell characteristics, higher clonality, more class switching recombination and somatic hypermutations. Combined analyses suggest local differentiation of infiltrated memory B-cells within breast tumors. The B-cell signatures based on the single-cell RNA-sequencing results are significantly associated with improved survival in breast tumor patients. Functional analyses of tumor-infiltrated B-cell populations suggest that mechanistically, B-cell subgroups may contribute to immunosurveillance through various pathways. Further dissection of tumor-infiltrated B-cell populations will provide valuable clues for tumor immunotherapy.

In eukaryotes, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), one of the most harmful types of DNA damage, are repaired by homologous repair (HR) and nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ). Surprisingly, in cells deficient for core classic NHEJ factors such as DNA ligase IV (Lig4), substantial end-joining activities have been observed in various situations, suggesting the existence of alternative end-joining (A-EJ) activities. Several putative A-EJ factors have been proposed, although results are mostly controversial. By using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system, we generated mouse CH12F3 cell lines in which, in addition to Lig4, either Lig1 or nuclear Lig3, representing the cells containing a single DNA ligase (Lig3 or Lig1, respectively) in their nucleus, was completely ablated. Surprisingly, we found that both Lig1-and Lig3-containing complexes could efficiently catalyze A-EJ for class switching recombination (CSR) in the IgH locus and chromosomal deletions between DSBs generated by CRISPR/Cas9 in cis-chromosomes. However, only deletion of nuclear Lig3, but not Lig1, could significantly reduce the interchromosomal translocations in Lig4 M ammalian genomes are subjected substantial DNA damage from both endogenous processes [e.g., DNA replication, class switching recombination (CSR), etc.] and exogenous resources (e.g., ionic radiation, DNA-damaging chemicals, etc.). Evolutionarily conserved DNA repair pathways are essential to maintain both the structure integrity and the information accuracy of the genome (1). In eukaryotes, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), one of the most dangerous and severe types of DNA damage, are repaired mainly by two evolutionarily conserved repair pathways: homologous repair (HR) and nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) (2). NHEJ directly ligates two broken DSB ends, whereas HR uses a homologous template (in most of cases, the sister chromosome) for repair. Although NHEJ is simpler and faster than HR, repair by NHEJ often leads to change of sequences in the repair junctions via deletion, insertion, and mutations. Most importantly, NHEJ can also directly ligate two distant DSBs (both in cis-and transchromosomes), therefore leading to chromosomal deletions and translocations that are tightly linked to the genome evolution and carcinogenesis (3).The NHEJ in eukaryotes has been extensively studied in the last two decades (4-6). Mechanistically, NHEJ could be separated into several steps. First, in the DSB binding and tethering step, the DSB ends are recognized and bound by Ku70/Ku80 heterodimers that function as docking sites for other NHEJ factors. In the next end-processing step, nuclease and DNA polymerase activities are recruited to remove damaged or mismatched nucleotides and prepare the broken ends for ligation. Finally, DNA ligase IV (Lig4) complex, consisting of DNA Lig4 and its cofactor X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 4 (XRCC4), as well as the newly identified XRCC4-interacting factor (XLF), reseals the DSBs. Both V(D)J ...