Single-cell RNA-seq highlights intratumoral heterogeneity in primary glioblastoma.

ABSTRACT: Human cancers are complex ecosystems composed of cells with distinct phenotypes, genotypes, and epigenetic states, but current models do not adequately reflect tumor composition in patients. We used single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to profile 430 cells from five primary glioblastomas, which we found to be inherently variable in their expression of diverse transcriptional programs related to oncogenic signaling, proliferation, complement/immune response, and hypoxia. We also observed a continuum of stemness-related expression states that enabled us to identify putative regulators of stemness in vivo. Finally, we show that established glioblastoma subtype classifiers are variably expressed across individual cells within a tumor and demonstrate the potential prognostic implications of suc

SUBMITTER: Patel AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4123637 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature