ArticleNature communications2021
Dissecting esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma ecosystem by single-cell transcriptomic analysis.
Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 240 papers.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
240citing papers in PubMed
26.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
240 citing papers in PubMed, 367 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Phase II Pilot Study of Anti-PD-L1, Durvalumab, and a PARP Inhibitor, Olaparib in Patients With Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer With or Without Germline BRCA Mutation.Cancer medicine · 2025Trial
- Preoperative pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1 antibody) combined with chemoradiotherapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a phase 1/2 trial (PALACE-2).Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2025Trial
- Impaired TGF-β signaling via AHNAK family mutations elicits an esophageal cancer subtype with sensitivities to genotoxic therapy and immunotherapy.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2024Trial
- Research progress on the compositional characteristics of the tumor immune microenvironment and immunopredictive models in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Cancer biology & therapy · 2026Review
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for second-line retreatment in esophageal cancer progressing after first-line immunotherapy: a single-center retrospective cohort study.Journal of thoracic disease · 2026Article
- Data-driven identification of cell subtypes for single-cell transcriptomic data with Subtypist.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Identification of Epigenetic Regulator-Associated Genes in Keloid Disease Through Integrated Bulk and Single-Cell Transcriptomics With RT-qPCR Validation.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026Article
- Mutant TP53 hijacks RNA-splicing factor RBM28 to suppress double-stranded RNA triggered antitumor immunity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Cellular and molecular dysregulation of the esophageal epithelium in systemic sclerosis.JCI insight · 2026Article
- Identification of a distinct cluster of LY6EBritish journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Single-Cell and Bulk Transcriptomics Identify GNGT1-High Malignant Epithelial Cells Associated With Immune Suppression in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Chemical biology & drug design · 2026Article
- Krüppel-like factor 4 downregulation during esophageal cancer formation facilitates immune evasion and impairs immunotherapy.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Article
- Targeted extracellular vesicle-photoimmunotherapy remodels stromal-immune microenvironment to boost chemo-immunotherapy in preclinical models.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Clinical significance of CD161Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Article
- Single-Cell Pan-Cancer Atlas Reveals GPR171 as a Candidate Marker of CD8International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- A Circulating GPNMB-Based Multimodal Model Integrates Tumor-Immune Crosstalk to Predict Immunotherapy Response in Esophageal Cancer.Cancer discovery · 2026Article
- A unified single-cell atlas of HNSCC: Toward characterizing HPV- and sex-associated TME variability.iScience · 2026Article
- METTL3 in esophageal cancer: Current insights into molecular mechanisms, subtype heterogeneity and targeted therapy prospects (Review).International journal of oncology · 2026Review
- ScSpTITH: a rank-correlation framework for robust quantification of multi-dimensional tumor heterogeneity.Human genetics · 2026Article
- Advances in multi-omics for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic perspectives.Protein & cell · 2026Review
180 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
25 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Xiannian Zhang *School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-0514-3700
Linna Peng *Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Yingying Luo *Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0003-4154-4277
Shaosen Zhang *Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Yang Pu *Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Yamei Chen *Department of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-9072-5157
Wenjia GuoCancer Institute, Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China.ORCID 0000-0002-4255-3135
Jiacheng YaoSchool of Life Sciences, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5212-7527
Mingming ShaoDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Wenyi FanDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-7875-7404
Qionghua CuiDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0001-5285-5260
Yiyi XiDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Yanxia SunDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-2122-4009
Xiangjie NiuDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Xuan ZhaoDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5650-0747
Liping ChenDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Yuqian WangDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-4543-8319
Yachen LiuDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Xinyu YangDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Chengcheng WangDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Ce ZhongDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Wen TanDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Jianbin WangSchool of Life Sciences, Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. jianbinwang@tsinghua.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0001-6725-7925
Chen WuDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. chenwu@cicams.ac.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-4954-1011
Dongxin LinDepartment of Etiology and Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-8723-8868
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College · CNCapital Medical University · CNCenter for Life Sciences · CNKing Center · USSun Yat-sen University · CNXinjiang Medical University · CN
Funding
Role of Pannexins in Vascular Smooth Muscle CellsP01HL120840 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · PI BAYLISS, DOUGLAS A., RAVICHANDRAN, KODI S · 2014 to 2023
$24.0MBASIC CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH TRAINING GRANTT32HL007284 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CHARLOTTESVILLE · PI Brant E Isakson, Gary K Owens · 1985 to 2026
$19.6MPurinergic Regulation of Veinous Endothelial PermeabilityR01HL137112 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · PI Brant E Isakson, MICHAEL H. KOVAL · 2018 to 2026
$4.7MMicroglial-Neurovascular Dynamics and Regulation of Neurovascular Structure and FunctionR01NS122782 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · PI EYO, UKPONG BASSEY · 2021 to 2025
$2.0MMechanisms of capillary-associated microglial interactionsR21NS119727 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · PI EYO, UKPONG BASSEY · 2020 to 2021
$444kNHLBI NIH HHS P01 HL120840NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL137112NHLBI NIH HHS T32 HL007284NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS122782NINDS NIH HHS R21 NS119727
Abstract
Esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC), one of the most prevalent and lethal malignant disease, has a complex but unknown tumor ecosystem. Here, we investigate the composition of ESCC tumors based on 208,659 single-cell transcriptomes derived from 60 individuals. We identify 8 common expression programs from malignant epithelial cells and discover 42 cell types, including 26 immune cell and 16 nonimmune stromal cell subtypes in the tumor microenvironment (TME), and analyse the interactions between cancer cells and other cells and the interactions among different cell types in the TME. Moreover, we link the cancer cell transcriptomes to the somatic mutations and identify several markers significantly associated with patients' survival, which may be relevant to precision care of ESCC patients. These results reveal the immunosuppressive status in the ESCC TME and further our understanding of ESCC.
Indexed as
Transcription, GeneticAdultAgedB-LymphocytesEpithelial CellsEsophageal NeoplasmsEsophageal Squamous Cell CarcinomaFemaleFibroblastsGene Expression ProfilingGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansMaleMiddle AgedMyeloid CellsNeoplasm ProteinsNeoplasm Proteins
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390
Registered trials
None linked
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.