Hirak Sarkar, Eunmi Lee, Sereno L Lopez-Darwin, Yibin Kang
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) often exhibit stem-like attributes that depend on an intricate stemness-promoting cellular ecosystem within their niche. The interplay between CSCs and their niche has been implicated in tumor heterogeneity and therapeutic resistance. Normal stem cells (NSCs) and CSCs share stemness features and common microenvironmental components, displaying significant phenotypic and functional plasticity. Investigating these properties across diverse organs during normal development and tumorigenesis is of paramount research interest and translational potential. Advancements in next-generation sequencing (NGS), single-cell transcriptomics, and spatial transcriptomics have ushered in a new era in cancer research, providing high-resolution and comprehensive molecular maps of diseased tissues. Various spatial technologies, with their unique ability to measure the location and molecular profile of a cell within tissue, have enabled studies on intratumoral architecture and cellular cross-talk within the specific niches. Moreover, delineation of spatial patterns for niche-specific properties such as hypoxia, glucose deprivation, and other microenvironmental remodeling are revealed through multilevel spatial sequencing. This tremendous progress in technology has also been paired with the advent of computational tools to mitigate technology-specific bottlenecks. Here we discuss how different spatial technologies are used to identify NSCs and CSCs, as well as their associated niches. Additionally, by exploring related public data sets, we review the current challenges in characterizing such niches, which are often hindered by technological limitations, and the computational solutions used to address them.
期刊介绍:
Genes & Development is a research journal published in association with The Genetics Society. It publishes high-quality research papers in the areas of molecular biology, molecular genetics, and related fields. The journal features various research formats including Research papers, short Research Communications, and Resource/Methodology papers.
Genes & Development has gained recognition and is considered as one of the Top Five Research Journals in the field of Molecular Biology and Genetics. It has an impressive Impact Factor of 12.89. The journal is ranked #2 among Developmental Biology research journals, #5 in Genetics and Heredity, and is among the Top 20 in Cell Biology (according to ISI Journal Citation Reports®, 2021).