2026-10-06T21:38:55Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34038759 2026-10-01T04:39:02Z category_303 portal_316 item_type_1 month_year_10_2026

Image 2_MTHFD1L-associated branched-chain amino acid degradation transcriptional signature represents a conserved metabolic program in Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancies.jpg Jianmei Zhou (4016051) Hu Hao (9355604) Wenxia Zhang (2403652) Lin Mao (584933) Xiaoran Zhao (772088) Jie Zhu (126574) Clinical Microbiology branched-chain amino acid degradation EBV-associated malignancies Epstein–Barr virus metabolic reprogramming MTHFD1L single-cell RNA sequencing <p>Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated malignancies encompass multiple tumor types with distinct tissue origins, yet the extent to which they share conserved metabolic programs remains poorly understood. Here, we performed an integrated cross-cancer transcriptomic analysis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, EBV-associated gastric cancer, and EBV-associated plasmablastic lymphoma to identify conserved metabolic programs, followed by independent cohort validation and single-cell transcriptomic characterization. We identified 103 consensus differentially expressed genes and 72 conserved gene–metabolic pathway pairs across the three discovery cohorts. Among them, only the MTHFD1L—associated Valine, leucine and isoleucine degradation program was consistently preserved in both the discovery and validation cohorts. Single-cell analysis further demonstrated that this conserved metabolic program was predominantly enriched in CD4⁺ T cells, γδ T cells, and NK cells, and was accompanied by cell state-dependent metabolic remodeling, altered cell–cell communication, and distinct MTHFD1L-centered regulatory networks across immune cell populations. Collectively, our study identifies an MTHFD1L-associated branched-chain amino acid degradation transcriptional co-expression signature as a conserved metabolic program shared across EBV-associated malignancies and reveals its immune cell-specific and dynamic characteristics. These findings provide new insight into the metabolic adaptation of EBV-associated malignancies and offer a conceptual framework for the development of metabolism-targeted therapeutic strategies for virus-associated cancers.</p> 2026-10-01T04:39:02Z Image Figure 10.3389/fcimb.2026.1955009.s010 https://figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_2_MTHFD1L-associated_branched-chain_amino_acid_degradation_transcriptional_signature_represents_a_conserved_metabolic_program_in_Epstein-Barr_virus-associated_malignancies_jpg/34038759 CC BY 4.0