Single-cell and spatial analyses of cancer cells: toward elucidating the molecular mechanisms of clonal evolution and drug resistance acquisition

Even within a single type of cancer, cells of various types exist and play interrelated roles. Each of the individual cells resides in a distinct microenvironment and behaves differently. Such heterogeneity is the most cumbersome nature of cancers, which is occasionally uncountable when effective prevention or total elimination of cancers is attempted. To understand the heterogeneous nature of each cell, the use of conventional methods for the analysis of bulk cells is insufficient. Although some methods are high-throughput and compressive regarding the genes being detected, the obtained data would be from the cell mass, and the average of a large number of the component cells would no longer be measured. Single-cell analysis, which has developed rapidly in recent years, is causing a drastic change. Genome, transcriptome, and epigenome analyses at single-cell resolution currently target cancer cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, endothelial cells of vessels, and circulating and infiltrating immune cells. In fact, surprisingly diverse features of clonal evolution of cancer cells, during the development of cancer or acquisition of drug resistance, accompanied by corresponding gene expression changes in the circumstantial stromal cells, appeared in recent single-cell analyses. Based on the obtained novel insights, better optimal drug selection and new drug administration sequences were started. Even a remaining concern of the single cell analyses is being addressed. Until very recently, it was impossible to obtain positional information of cells in cancer via single-cell analysis because such information is lost during preparation of single-cell suspensions. A new method, collectively called spatial transcriptome (ST) analysis, has been developed and rapidly applied to various clinical specimens. In this review, we first outline the recent achievements of single-cell cancer analysis in analyzing the molecular basis underlying the acquisition of drug resistance, particularly focusing on the latest anti-epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, osimertinib. Further, we review the currently available ST analysis methods and introduce our recent attempts regarding the respective topics.

Automated summary

Even within the same type of cancer, the cells exhibit diversity and interact differently. Single-cell analysis methods have rapidly evolved to provide novel insights into the heterogeneity of cancer cells, leading to better understanding and potential treatment strategies.