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Genetics and Genomics

The application of single-cell sequencing in pancreatic neoplasm: analysis, diagnosis and treatment

British Journal of Cancer volume 128, pages 206–218 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Pancreatic neoplasms, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) and pancreatic cystic neoplasms (PCNs), are the most puzzling diseases. Numerous studies have not brought significant improvements in prognosis and diagnosis, especially in PDAC. One important reason is that previous studies only focused on differences between patients and healthy individuals but ignored intratumoral heterogeneity. In recent years, single-cell sequencing techniques, represented by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), have emerged by which researchers can analyse each cell in tumours instead of their average levels. Herein, we summarise the new current knowledge of single-cell sequencing in pancreatic neoplasms with respect to techniques, tumour heterogeneities and treatments.

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Fig. 1: Application of single-cell sequencing in PDAC studies.
Fig. 2: The basic workflow of single-cell sequencing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Le Li for assistance with his comments and proof reading that greatly improved the manuscript. This paper was supported by grants from the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China (81770639,82070657), Applied technology research and development project of Heilongjiang Province (GA20C019), Outstanding youth funds of the first affiliated hospital of Harbin Medical University (HYD2020JQ0006), and Research projects of Chinese Research Hospital Association (Y2019FH-DTCC-SB1).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Gaoyuan Lv, Liang Zhang.

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  1. Department of Pancreatic and Biliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, 150000, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China

    Gaoyuan Lv, Liang Zhang, Lei Gao, Jitao Cui, Ziying Liu, Bei Sun & Gang Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Hepatosplenic Surgery, Ministry of Education, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China

    Gaoyuan Lv & Gang Wang

  3. Chinese Journal of Practical Surgery, Chinese Medical University, Shenyang, China

    Qiushi Tang

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Lv, G., Zhang, L., Gao, L. et al. The application of single-cell sequencing in pancreatic neoplasm: analysis, diagnosis and treatment. Br J Cancer 128, 206–218 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-022-02023-x

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