Potentiality of multiple modalities for single-cell analyses to evaluate the tumor microenvironment in clinical specimens
Yukie Kashima, Yosuke Togashi, Shota Fukuoka, Takahiro Kamada, Takuma Irie, Ayako Suzuki, Yoshiaki Nakamura, Kohei Shitara, Tatsunori Minamide, Taku Yoshida, Naofumi Taoka, Tatsuya Kawase, Teiji Wada, Koichiro Inaki, Masataka Chihara, Yukihiko Ebisuno, Sakiyo Tsukamoto, Ryo Fujii, Akihiro Ohashi, Yutaka Suzuki, Katsuya Tsuchihara, Hiroyoshi Nishikawa, Toshihiko Doi
Abstract
Single-cell level analysis is powerful tool to assess the heterogeneity of cellular components in tumor microenvironments (TME). In this study, we investigated immune-profiles using the single-cell analyses of endoscopically- or surgically-resected tumors, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from gastric cancer patients. Furthermore, we technically characterized two distinct platforms of the single-cell analysis; RNA-seq-based analysis (scRNA-seq), and mass cytometry-based analysis (CyTOF), both of which are broadly embraced technologies. Our study revealed that the scRNA-seq analysis could cover a broader range of immune cells of TME in the biopsy-resected small samples of tumors, detecting even small subgroups of B cells or Treg cells in the tumors, although CyTOF could distinguish the specific populations in more depth. These findings demonstrate that scRNA-seq analysis is a highly-feasible platform for elucidating the complexity of TME in small biopsy tumors, which would provide a novel strategies to overcome a therapeutic difficulties against cancer heterogeneity in TME.