Single-cell transcriptome sequencing reveals heterogeneity of gastric cancer: progress and prospects

Gaohua Deng; Xu Zhang; Yonglan Chen; Sicheng Liang; Sha Liu; Zehui Yu; Muhan Lü

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1074268

Single-cell transcriptome sequencing reveals heterogeneity of gastric cancer: progress and prospects

Front Oncol. 2023 May 25:13:1074268. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1074268. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Gaohua Deng¹, Xu Zhang¹, Yonglan Chen¹, Sicheng Liang¹, Sha Liu¹, Zehui Yu², Muhan Lü¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China.
² Laboratory Animal Center, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China.

Abstract

Gastric cancer is one of the most serious malignant tumor and threatens the health of people worldwide. Its heterogeneity leaves many clinical problems unsolved. To treat it effectively, we need to explore its heterogeneity. Single-cell transcriptome sequencing, or single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), reveals the complex biological composition and molecular characteristics of gastric cancer at the level of individual cells, which provides a new perspective for understanding the heterogeneity of gastric cancer. In this review, we first introduce the current procedure of scRNA-seq, and discuss the advantages and limitations of scRNA-seq. We then elaborate on the research carried out with scRNA-seq in gastric cancer in recent years, and describe how it reveals cell heterogeneity, the tumor microenvironment, oncogenesis and metastasis, as well as drug response in to gastric cancer, to facilitate early diagnosis, individualized therapy, and prognosis evaluation.

Keywords: gastric cancer; individualized therapy; oncogenesis; single-cell RNA sequencing; tumor heterogeneity.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82101504) and Sichuan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Research Team (2021JDTD0003).