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10-01-2023 | Review

Single-cell technologies uncover intra-tumor heterogeneity in childhood cancers

Authors: Yu-Chen Lo, Yuxuan Liu, Marte Kammersgaard, Abhishek Koladiya, Timothy J. Keyes, Kara L. Davis

Published in: Seminars in Immunopathology | Issue 1/2023

Abstract

Childhood cancer is the second leading cause of death in children aged 1 to 14. Although survival rates have vastly improved over the past 40 years, cancer resistance and relapse remain a significant challenge. Advances in single-cell technologies enable dissection of tumors to unprecedented resolution. This facilitates unraveling the heterogeneity of childhood cancers to identify cell subtypes that are prone to treatment resistance. The rapid accumulation of single-cell data from different modalities necessitates the development of novel computational approaches for processing, visualizing, and analyzing single-cell data. Here, we review single-cell approaches utilized or under development in the context of childhood cancers. We review computational methods for analyzing single-cell data and discuss best practices for their application. Finally, we review the impact of several studies of childhood tumors analyzed with these approaches and future directions to implement single-cell studies into translational cancer research in pediatric oncology.

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Title: Single-cell technologies uncover intra-tumor heterogeneity in childhood cancers
Authors: Yu-Chen Lo
Yuxuan Liu
Marte Kammersgaard
Abhishek Koladiya
Timothy J. Keyes
Kara L. Davis
Publication date: 10-01-2023
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Seminars in Immunopathology / Issue 1/2023
Print ISSN: 1863-2297
Electronic ISSN: 1863-2300
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-022-00981-1

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