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

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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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Acknowledgements

We thank all members of the Davis lab for helpful discussions.

Funding

KLD is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Endowed Faculty Scholar in Pediatric Cancer and Blood Diseases. This work is supported by Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute, NCI U54 CA232568, NCI R01 CA251858, NCI R21 CA234529, NCI R01 CA251858-01A1S1, Mark Foundation Aspire Award, The Andrew McDonough B Positive Foundation, W81XWH-19-PRCRP-CDA Department of Defense Young Investigator Award.

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  1. Yu-Chen Lo and Yuxuan Liu contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology, Oncology, Stem Cell Transplant and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

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

  2. Medical Scientist Training Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Timothy J. Keyes

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  1. Yu-Chen Lo
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Correspondence to Kara L. Davis.

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This article is a contribution to the special issue on: Single-cell and spatial multi-omics in clinical outcomes studies - Guest Editor: Brice Gaudillière

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Lo, YC., Liu, Y., Kammersgaard, M. et al. Single-cell technologies uncover intra-tumor heterogeneity in childhood cancers. Semin Immunopathol 45, 61–69 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-022-00981-1

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