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Tumour heterogeneity and metastasis at single-cell resolution

Abstract

Tumours comprise a heterogeneous collection of cells with distinct genetic and phenotypic properties that can differentially promote progression, metastasis and drug resistance. Emerging single-cell technologies provide a new opportunity to profile individual cells within tumours and investigate what roles they play in these processes. This Review discusses key technological considerations for single-cell studies in cancer, new findings using single-cell technologies and critical open questions for future applications.

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Fig. 1: Common types of intratumour heterogeneity and its regulation by intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
Fig. 2: Deciphering subclonal composition and cell types and states in single-cell omics data.
Fig. 3: Genetic and phenotypic properties of metastasis-initiating cells at the single-cell level.

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Acknowledgements

We thank those whose work informed the writing of this manuscript and apologize to those authors whose elegant studies we were unable to acknowledge in this Review. We thank K. Blake and J. Wu for thoughtful discussion and suggestions regarding the content of this Review. This work was supported by NIH grants (U01CA199315 to Z.W., K22 CA190511 to D.A.L. and R00 CA181490 to K.K.) and the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative (HCA-A-1704-01668 to K.K. and D.A.L.). N.P. was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Research Service Award T32 EB009418 from the University of California, Irvine, Center for Complex Biological Systems. R.T.D. was supported by the NIH, NCI Award T32CA009054 through matched funds.

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Lawson, D.A., Kessenbrock, K., Davis, R.T. et al. Tumour heterogeneity and metastasis at single-cell resolution. Nat Cell Biol 20, 1349–1360 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-018-0236-7

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