Cancer biology deciphered by single-cell transcriptomic sequencing

Tumors are complex ecosystems in which heterogeneous cancer cells interact with their microenvironment composed of diverse immune, endothelial, and stromal cells. Cancer biology had been studied using bulk genomic and gene expression profiling, which however mask the cellular diversity and average the variability among individual molecular programs. Recent advances in single-cell transcriptomic sequencing have enabled a detailed dissection of tumor ecosystems and promoted our understanding of tumorigenesis at single-cell resolution. In the present review, we discuss the main topics of recent cancer studies that have implemented single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). To study cancer cells, scRNA-seq has provided novel insights into the cancer stem-cell model, treatment resistance, and cancer metastasis. To study the tumor microenvironment, scRNA-seq has portrayed the diverse cell types and complex cellular states of both immune and non-immune cells interacting with cancer cells, with the promise to discover novel targets for future immunotherapy.

The expression of CREB in the Glioma / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

Objective To investigate the clinical significance and abnormal expression of the CREB in different grade gliomas. Methods The expression of CREB was examined by using immunohistochemistry in brain tissues from the brain injury (5 cases) and different grade gliomas (55 cases).The mRNA and protein levels of CREB were further as?sessed using Western blot and RT-PCR in brain tissues from the patients with brain injury (10 cases) and those with dif?ferent grade gliomas (30 cases). Results The positive rates of CREB immunohistochemistry were 2/5 in control, 10/15 inⅠ-,Ⅱ11/12 in Ⅲ, 28/28 in Ⅳ. The positive rates of CREB were significantly different among different groups (H=28.183,P<0.05).The mRNA levels of CREB were 1.00 ± 0.000 in control, 1.35 ± 0.068 inⅠ-Ⅱ, 2.88 ± 0.111 in Ⅲand 3.75 ± 0.196 in Ⅳ. The expression of CREB was higher in the glioma than in control group, and the mRNA levels of CREB were significantly different among different groups(F=1.208,P<0.05). The protein levels of CREB were 0.311 ± 0.014 in control, 0.469±0.026 inⅠ-Ⅱ, 0.641±0.028 inⅢand 0.896±0.024 inⅣ. The protein levels of CREB were sig?nificantly different among different groups(F=1.123,P<0.05). Conclusion The expression of CREB is elevated in glio?mas with different differentiation degrees. The expression of CREB was positively correlated with the degree of differentia?tion, indicating that CREB may have an important regulatory role in the progress of gliomas.