Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis in Tumor Tissues

The tumor microenvironment is comprised of cancer cells and their surround-ings, including various normal cells and non-cellular components, and each tumor tissue has a distinctive microenvironment. Cancer progression is affected by different microenvironmental states, such as the heterogeneity of infiltrating immune cells. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the complex cell-to-cell interactions associated with tumor developmental stages in different tissues. Recent revolution of single-cell RNA sequencing technology can uncover the tumor microenvironment diversity. We have developed a novel strategy of single-cell transcriptome analysis: next generation 1-cell sequencing (Nx1-seq) technology, and it allows for profiling of thousands of single cells from tumor tissue. Our microwell with cell bar-code beads device can detect genes with high sensitivity, and it is easily trans-ported anywhere without any other dedicated devices. Further, the developmental cost is relatively cheaper than other single-cell RNA sequencing methods. In this study, we introduce representative application of the single-cell RNA sequencing technique in gynecological cancers, and we show the result of Nx1-seq application in human endometrioid adenocarcinoma tissue. Single-cell profiling of breast cancer T cells reveals a tissue-resident memory subset associated with improved prognosis.