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Single-Cell Proteomics

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Handbook of Single-Cell Technologies

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Abstract

Single-cell proteomics refers to the analysis and characterization of proteins expressed in individual cells. The purpose of studying single-cell proteomes is to better understand the activity and function of cells at the single-cell level. Since proteins are the main molecules responsible for cellular functions, analysis of single-cell proteomes gives a most accurate understanding of how cells operate and communicate and how protein expression alters in individual cells due to environmental/pathological stimuli. Although single-cell transcriptomics is an important approach for analysis of gene expression at single-cell level, it does not take into account posttranscriptional regulation, and gene expression levels may not always correlate well with protein expression levels. Single-cell proteomics is particularly important in development biology, stem cell biology, neurochemistry, and cancer biology fields. Comparing different stem/progenitor cell proteomes can reveal proteins that are important for stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Single neuron proteome analysis will facilitate our understanding of how neurons transmit signals among their heterogeneous cell populations. Lastly, single-cell proteomics may help elucidate how cancer is developed from a single mutated cell and how cancer cells invade and metastasize. Single-cell proteome analysis represents a great challenge for analytical chemistry community. In the past two decades, we have witnessed new technology developments in this field, such as capillary electrophoresis, microfluidics, mass spectrometry, and flow cytometry. This chapter will provide an overview of the recent advancement of technology and methodology for single-cell proteomics and related applications. We will also discuss current challenges and future direction for single-cell proteomics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dentistry, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Xiangdong Xu & Shen Hu

  2. School of Public Health, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

    Xiangdong Xu

Authors
  1. Xiangdong Xu
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  2. Shen Hu
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Correspondence to Shen Hu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Tuhin Subhra Santra

  2. Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Fan-Gang Tseng

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Xu, X., Hu, S. (2022). Single-Cell Proteomics. In: Santra, T.S., Tseng, FG. (eds) Handbook of Single-Cell Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8953-4_1

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