Work

Heterogeneity of T cells regulates tumor immunity mediated by Helicobacter pylori infection in gastric cancer

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The impact of Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) status on gastric cancer survival remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a prognostic analysis of 488 gastric cancer patients and performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on 18,717 T cells from six tumor samples with varying H. pylori statuses. Our findings revealed that gastric cancer patients with H . pylori infection had significantly longer survival times compared to those with negative H . pylori status. After unsupervised re-clustering of T cells based on scRNA-seq data, we identified ten CD4 + and twelve CD8 + clusters. Among them, four CD8 + T cell clusters exhibited distinct distributions based on H. pylori infection status. One cluster, marked by CXCL13 , showed high levels of IFNG and GZMB in H. pylori -infected patients, while another cluster, which expressed immune suppression related genes like AREG and PTGER2 , was predominantly comprised of cells from non-infected patients. High PTGER2 expression was significantly associated with worse prognosis in patients with high CD8 expression. These insights advance our understanding of H. pylori ’s influence on T cell responses in gastric cancer, aiding in treatment and prognostic strategies.

Source: BMC Cancer

DOI: 10.1186/s12885-025-13957-9