Abstract
Immunotherapy has become a primary and secondary treatment for gastric cancer (GC) patients with mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), and is used in both perioperative and advanced stages. The tumor immune microenvironment (TiME) is crucial for immunotherapy efficacy, yet the impact of MMR status on TiME remains understudied. We employed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to analyze 33 fresh tissue samples from 25 patients, which included 10 normal tissues, 6 dMMR tumor tissues, and 17 pMMR tumor tissues, aiming to characterize the cellular and molecular components of the TiME. The proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) group displayed a significantly higher prevalence of a specific GC cell type, termed GC2, characterized by increased hypoxia, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and angiogenic activities compared to the dMMR group. GC2 cells overexpressed BEX3 and GPC3, and they significantly correlated with poorer survival. The pMMR group also showed increased infiltration of SPP1 + macrophages and FAP + fibroblasts, exhibiting strong hypoxic and pro-angiogenic features. Furthermore, a higher proportion of E2 endothelial cells, involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and showing heightened VEGF pathway, HIF pathway, and angiogenesis activity, were identified in pMMR patients. Intercellular communication analyses revealed that GC2 cells, SPP1 + macrophages, FAP + fibroblasts, and E2 endothelial cells interact through VEGF, SPP1, and MIF signals, forming a TiME characterized by hypoxia, pro-angiogenesis, and ECM remodeling. This study uncovered TiME heterogeneity among GC patients with different MMR states, highlighting that the pMMR TiME is distinguished by hypoxia, pro-angiogenesis, and ECM remodeling, driven by the presence of GC2 cells, SPP1 + macrophages, FAP + fibroblasts, and E2 endothelial cells. These findings are pivotal for developing targeted immunotherapies for GC patients with pMMR.