A developmental cell atlas of the human thyroid gland

Thyroid hormones are essential for health, but human thyroid development and cellular heterogeneity are poorly understood. We generated a high-resolution, spatiotemporal transcriptional atlas of human fetal thyroid, and examined its perturbations in trisomy 21 (T21), where aberrant thyroid development is associated with congenital hypothyroidism, and in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Normal tissue revealed two functional follicular cell states (fTFC1, fTFC2) with divergent PAX8 expression levels, persisting into adulthood. Additionally, the rare C-cell population was comprehensively profiled at single-cell resolution for the first time. T21 fetal thyroid was hypoplastic, with disrupted follicular morphology and altered expression of genes mediating cellular topology and extracellular matrix interactions. Finally, the transcriptional signals of both fetal follicular cell states were found to be perturbed in PTC. Overall, we defined a reference atlas for normal human fetal thyrocyte heterogeneity and provided novel insights into thyroid disorders.

• 04/12/2025
• 1 sample
• DAC: EGAC00001000205
• Technology: Illumina NovaSeq 6000