AUTHOR=Müller Sören , Diaz Aaron 

TITLE=Single-Cell mRNA Sequencing in Cancer Research: Integrating the Genomic Fingerprint

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2017.00073

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2017.00073

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>Critical cancer mutations are often regional and mosaic, confounding the efficacy of targeted therapeutics. Single cell mRNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has enabled unprecedented studies of intra-tumor heterogeneity and its role in cancer progression, metastasis, and treatment resistance. When coupled with DNA sequencing, scRNA-seq allows one to infer the <italic>in vivo</italic> impact of genomic alterations on gene expression. This combination can be used to reliably distinguish neoplastic from non-neoplastic cells, to correlate paracrine-signaling pathways between neoplastic cells and stroma, and to map expression signatures to inferred clones and phylogenies. Here we review recent advances in scRNA-seq, with a special focus on cancer. We discuss the challenges and prospects of combining scRNA-seq with DNA sequencing to assess intra-tumor heterogeneity.</p>