Tumor heterogeneity in liver cancer

Division Of Basic Sciences - Nci

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Abstract

Tumor heterogeneity is a key factor in therapeutic failures and lethal outcomes of solid malignancies. Uncovering the nature behind the phenomenon of heterogeneity is critical for developing effective cancer treatments. We demonstrated that vast transcriptomic heterogeneity occurs both intertumor and intratumor in liver cancer using single-cell analysis. We developed a method to determine transcriptomic clusters of malignant cells as functionally unique states within a tumor using single-cell transcriptomes and found that tumors with a higher number of functional states are associated with worse patient outcomes.