scRNAseq comparison of healthy and irradiated mouse parotid glands highlights immune involvement during chronic gland dysfunction

SUMMARY

Translational frameworks to understand the chronic loss of salivary dysfunction that follows after clinical irradiation, and the development of regenerative therapies remain an unmet clinical need. Understanding the transcriptional landscape long after irradiation treatment that results in chronic salivary hypofunction will help identify injury mechanisms and develop regenerative therapies to address this need. Advances in single cell (sc)RNAseq have made it possible to identify previously uncharacterized cell types within tissues and to uncover gene regulatory networks that mediate cell-cell communication and drive specific cell states. scRNAseq studies have been performed for virtually all major tissues including salivary glands; however, there are currently no scRNAseq studies the long-term chronic effects of irradiation on salivary glands. Here, we present scRNAseq from control and irradiated murine parotid glands collected 10 months post-irradiation. We identify a previously uncharacterized population of epithelial cells in the gland defined by expression of Etv1, which may be an acinar cell precursor. These Etv1+ cells also express Ntrk2 and Erbb3 and thus may respond to myoepithelial cell-derived growth factor ligands. Furthermore, our data suggests that CD8+ T-cells and secretory cells are the most transcriptionally affected during chronic injury with radiation, suggesting active immune involvement during chronic injury post-irradiation. Thus, our study provides a resource to understand the transcriptional landscape in a chronic post-irradiation microenvironment and identifies cell-specific pathways that may be targeted to repair chronic damage.