Single-cell transcriptome profiling of the vaginal wall in women with severe anterior vaginal prolapse

Anterior vaginal prolapse, as the most common form of POP, severely affect women’s physical and mental health. However, the cellular profiles of vaginal wall and molecular mechanism in pathological process of POP remain unclear. Here, we built the first single-cell transcriptomic atlas of prolapsed vaginal wall. We further revealed prolapse induced aberrant gene expression and transcriptional regulatory networks in cell-type specific manner in POP. Besides extracellular matrix dysregulation, dysfunction of immune cells and immune response were involved with prolapse occur. Computational prediction demonstrated that the abnormal cell-cell communication patterns present among fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells and macrophages in POP, with interplay in extracellular matrix remodeling and regulation of immune reaction. Taken together, our work provides the first comprehensive single-cell transcriptomic atlas for deciphering gene expression landscapes of heterogeneous cell types in prolapsed anterior vaginal wall, broadens our understanding of cell identities and cell-type-specific gene changes in POP and demonstrated the vital role of enhanced interplay between non-immune cells and immune cells in prolapsed vaginal wall. Overall design: scRNA-seq analysis of vaginal wall tissue in pelvic organ prolapse and control sample

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