Novel Human Meningioma Organoids Recapitulate the Aggressiveness of the Initiating Cell Subpopulations Identified by ScRNA-Seq

Abstract

High-grade meningioma has an unsatisfactory outcome despite surgery and postoperative radiotherapy; however, the factors driving its malignancy and recurrence remain largely unknown, which limits the development of systemic treatments. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) technology is a powerful tool for studying intratumoral cellular heterogeneity and revealing the roles of various cell types in oncogenesis. In this study, scRNA-Seq is used to identify a unique initiating cell subpopulation (SULT1E1⁺ ) in high-grade meningiomas. This subpopulation modulates the polarization of M2-type macrophages and promotes meningioma progression and recurrence. A novel patient-derived meningioma organoid (MO) model is established to characterize this unique subpopulation. The resulting MOs fully retain the aggressiveness of SULT1E1⁺ and exhibit invasiveness in the brain after orthotopic transplantation. By targeting SULT1E1⁺ in MOs, the synthetic compound SRT1720 is identified as a potential agent for systemic treatment and radiation sensitization. These findings shed light on the mechanism underlying the malignancy of high-grade meningiomas and provide a novel therapeutic target for refractory high-grade meningioma.

Keywords: cell subpopulation; meningioma; patient-derived organoid model; single-cell RNA sequencing.