Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and partial epithelial-mesenchymal transition (p-EMT) tumor cells are closed together and contribute to the tumor progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In the present study, we deeply analyzed and integrated OSCC single-cell RNA sequencing datasets to define OSCC CAFs and p-EMT subpopulations. We highlighted the cell-cell interaction network of CAFs and p-EMT tumor cells and suggested biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of OSCC during the metastasis condition. The analysis discovered four subtypes of CAFs: one p-EMT tumor cell population, and cycling tumor cells as well as TNFSF12-TNFRSF25/TNFRSF12A interactions between CAFs and p-EMT tumor cells during tumor metastasis. This suggests the prediction of therapeutically targetable checkpoint receptor-ligand interactions between CAFs and p-EMT tumor cells in OSCC regarding the metastasis status.
Keywords: cancer-associated fibroblasts; metastasis; oral squamous cell carcinoma; partial epithelial–mesenchymal transition; single-cell RNA sequencing.