Cellular heterogeneity of human fallopian tubes in normal and hydrosalpinx disease states identified using scRNA-seq

Fallopian tube (FT) homeostasis requires dynamic regulation of heterogeneous cell populations and is disrupted in infertility and ovarian cancer. Here, we applied single-cell RNA-seq to profile 59,738 FT cells from four healthy, pre-menopausal subjects. The resulting cell atlas contains 12 major cell types representing epithelial, stromal, and immune compartments. Re-clustering of epithelial cells identified four ciliated and six non-ciliated secretory epithelial subtypes, two of which represent potential progenitor pools: one leading to mature secretory cells and the other contributing to either ciliated cells or one of the stromal cell types. To understand how FT cell numbers and states change in a disease state, we analyzed 17,798 cells from two hydrosalpinx samples and observed shifts in epithelial and stromal populations and cell-type-specific changes in extracellular matrix and TGF-β signaling; this underscores fibrosis pathophysiology. This resource is expected to facilitate future studies aimed at expanding understanding of fallopian tube homeostasis in normal development and disease. [Display omitted] •Analysis of ∼60K cells of healthy fallopian tubes identifies 12 major cell types•Four ciliated and six non-ciliated subtypes are defined, including two putative progenitors•Disease samples reveal cell population shifts and changes in gene regulation Fallopian tube homeostasis requires dynamic regulation of heterogeneous cell populations, which are disrupted in disease. Ulrich et al. apply single-cell RNA sequencing to untangle cellular heterogeneity within healthy and disease samples, identifying major cell types, epithelial subtypes, cell population shifts, and cell-type-specific transcriptomic changes in disease states.