Researchers at Columbia Engineering and Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) have invented a new RNA sequencing method that achieves high-quality results from small volumes of frozen tumor specimens. They demonstrated the success of their technique in two clinical studies that profiled dozens of tumor samples, both those archived and those freshly collected, to understand how they respond to anti-tumor therapy. The paper was published January 9, 2023, by Nature Genetics.
Using RNA sequencing to measure gene expression at the resolution of single cells has been one of the most transformative tools for studying cancer tissues over the past decade. By examining the RNA of individual cells, researchers can better understand the diversity of cells within a tumor, as well as how these tumor cells grow and interact with immune cells. These are important factors for understanding the hallmarks of cancer progression and the resistance of cancer to therapy–both key to the development of new cancer treatments.
Major challenge
A major barrier to the widespread adoption of single-cell RNA sequencing in traditional clinical workflows has been the volume of fresh tissue required–substantially more than what is routinely collected for clinical purposes. And the need for fresh tissue means that samples must be immediately analyzed once collected. These requirements have significantly limited the scientific analyses that can be done on patient samples.
