Transcriptomic characteristics and prognosis of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) and infiltrating B cells in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain unclear. Here, NPC transcriptomic data and clinical samples were used to investigate the role of infiltrating B cells and TLS in NPC. We investigated the gene expression and infiltrating immune cells of NPC patients and further investigated the clinical relevance of B cell and TLS signatures. Transcriptional features of infiltrating B cell subsets were revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis. Immunohistochemical (IHC) and HE staining were performed to validate the clinical relevance of infiltrating B cells and TLS in NPC samples. 27 differentially expressed immune-related genes (IRGs) associated with prognosis were identified, including B cell marker genes and . The higher B cells and TLS signature scores were associated with better outcomes and early pathological staging in 88 NPC patients. ScRNA-seq identified five distinct B cell subsets in NPC, including the BC-4 cluster associated with poor outcomes and the BC-0 cluster associated with better outcomes. EBV infection was positively associated with the formation of TLS. Furthermore, experimental results showed that the infiltration of B cells in NPC tissues was higher than that of normal tissues, and the density of TLS in an early stage of NPC was higher than that in advanced-stage TLS. Our findings demonstrate the functional importance of distinct B cell subsets in the prognosis of NPC. Additionally, we confirmed that B cells and TLS may serve as prognostic biomarkers of survival for NPC patients.

中文翻译：

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三级淋巴结构和B细胞在鼻咽癌中的作用：基于生物信息学和实验验证

鼻咽癌 (NPC) 中三级淋巴结构 (TLS) 和浸润 B 细胞的转录组特征和预后仍不清楚。在这里，NPC 转录组数据和临床样本被用来研究浸润 B 细胞和 TLS 在 NPC 中的作用。我们研究了鼻咽癌患者的基因表达和浸润免疫细胞，并进一步研究了 B 细胞和 TLS 特征的临床相关性。通过单细胞 RNA 测序 (scRNA-seq) 分析揭示了浸润 B 细胞亚群的转录特征。进行免疫组织化学 (IHC) 和 HE 染色以验证 NPC 样本中浸润 B 细胞和 TLS 的临床相关性。鉴定出 27 个与预后相关的差异表达免疫相关基因 (IRG)，包括 B 细胞标记基因和 . 在 88 名鼻咽癌患者中，较高的 B 细胞和 TLS 特征评分与更好的结果和早期病理分期相关。ScRNA-seq 确定了 NPC 中五个不同的 B 细胞亚群，包括与不良结果相关的 BC-4 簇和与更好结果相关的 BC-0 簇。EBV感染与TLS的形成呈正相关。此外，实验结果表明，鼻咽癌组织中B细胞的浸润高于正常组织，鼻咽癌早期TLS的密度高于晚期TLS。我们的研究结果证明了不同 B 细胞亚群在 NPC 预后中的功能重要性。此外，我们证实 B 细胞和 TLS 可以作为鼻咽癌患者生存的预后生物标志物。