Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis of Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Endometrium Reveals as a Potential Biomarker for Diagnosis and Treatment.

Background: As a dedifferentiated tumor, small cell endometrial neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare and frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage with a poor prognosis. Current treatment recommendations are often extrapolated from histologically similar tumors in other sites or based on retrospective studies. The exploration for diagnostic and therapeutic markers in small cell NETs is of great significance.

Methods: In this study, we conducted single-cell RNA sequencing on a specimen obtained from a patient diagnosed with small cell endometrial neuroendocrine carcinoma (SCNEC) based on pathology. We revealed the cell map and intratumoral heterogeneity of the cancer cells through data analysis. Further, we validated the function of ISL LIM Homeobox 1 () in an established neuroendocrine cell line. Finally, we examined the association between and tumor staging in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patient samples.

Results: We observed the significant upregulation of expression in tumor cells that showed high expression of the neuroepithelial markers. Additionally, cell function experiments demonstrated that the high expression group exhibited markedly higher cell proliferation and migration abilities compared to the low expression group. Finally, we showed that the expression level of was correlated with SCLC stages.

Conclusions: protein in NETs shows promise as a potential biomarker for diagnosis and treatment.