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The Immune Microenvironment Shapes Transcriptional and Genetic Heterogeneity in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), B-cell receptor signaling, tumor-microenvironment interactions and somatic mutations drive disease progression. To better understand the intersection between the microenvironment and molecular events in CLL pathogenesis, we integrated bulk transcriptome profiling of paired peripheral blood (PB) and lymph node (LN) samples from 34 patients. Oncogenic processes were upregulated in LN compared to PB, and in IGHV unmutated compared to mutated cases. Single-cell RNA sequencing distinguished 3 major cell states: quiescent, activated, and proliferating. The activated subpopulation comprised only 2.2% to 4.3% of the total tumor bulk in LN samples. RNA velocity analysis found that CLL cell fate in LN is unidirectional, starts in the proliferating state, transitions to the activated state, and ends in the quiescent state. A 10-gene signature derived from activated tumor cells was associated with inferior treatment-free survival and positively correlated with the proportion of activated CD4+ memory T cells and M2 macrophages in LN. Whole exome sequencing of paired PB and LN samples showed subclonal expansion in LN in approximately half of patients. Since mouse models have implicated activation-induced cytidine deaminase in mutagenesis, we compared AICDA expression between cases with and without clonal evolution, but did not find a difference. In contrast, the presence of a T-cell inflamed microenvironment in LN was associated with clonal stability. In summary, a distinct minor tumor subpopulation underlies CLL pathogenesis and drives clinical outcome. Clonal trajectories are shaped by the LN milieu where T-cell immunity may contribute to suppress clonal outgrowth. The clinical study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00923507.