Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Heterogeneity and Drug Response of Human Colorectal Cancer Organoids.

TitleSingle-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Heterogeneity and Drug Response of Human Colorectal Cancer Organoids.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsChen, K-Y, Srinivasan, T, Lin, C, Tung, K-L, Gao, Z, Hsu, DS, Lipkin, SM, Shen, X
JournalConf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
Volume2018
Pagination2378-2381
Date Published2018 07
ISSN1557-170X
KeywordsCell Culture Techniques, Colorectal Neoplasms, Humans, Organoids, Oxaliplatin, Single-Cell Analysis, Transcriptome
Abstract

Organoids are three-dimensional cell cultures that mimic organ functions and structures. The organoid model has been developed as a versatile in vitro platform for stem cell biology and diseases modeling. Tumor organoids are shown to share ~ 90% of genetic mutations with biopsies from same patients. However, it's not clear whether tumor organoids recapitulate the cellular heterogeneity observed in patient tumors. Here, we used single-cell RNA-Seq to investigate the transcriptomics of tumor organoids derived from human colorectal tumors, and applied machine learning methods to unbiasedly cluster subtypes in tumor organoids. Computational analysis reveals cancer heterogeneity sustained in tumor organoids, and the subtypes in organoids displayed high diversity. Furthermore, we treated the tumor organoids with a first-line cancer drug, Oxaliplatin, and investigated drug response in single-cell scale. Diversity of tumor cell populations in organoids were significantly perturbed by drug treatment. Single-cell analysis detected the depletion of chemosensitive subgroups and emergence of new drug tolerant subgroups after drug treatment. Our study suggests that the organoid model is capable of recapitulating clinical heterogeneity and its evolution in response to chemotherapy.

DOI10.1109/EMBC.2018.8512784
Alternate JournalConf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc
PubMed ID30440885
PubMed Central IDPMC6317967
Grant ListR21 CA201963 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
R35 GM122465 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
U01 CA214300 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States