Comprehensive description of the current breast cancer microenvironment advancements via single-cell analysis

Abstract

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with a complex microenvironment consisting of tumor cells, immune cells, fibroblasts and vascular cells. These cancer-associated cells shape the tumor microenvironment (TME) and influence the progression of breast cancer and the therapeutic responses in patients. The exact composition of the intra-tumoral cells is mixed as the highly heterogeneous and dynamic nature of the TME. Recent advances in single-cell technologies such as single-cell DNA sequencing (scDNA-seq), single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and mass cytometry have provided new insights into the phenotypic and functional diversity of tumor-infiltrating cells in breast cancer. In this review, we have outlined the recent progress in single-cell characterization of breast tumor ecosystems, and summarized the phenotypic diversity of intra-tumoral cells and their potential prognostic relevance.

A Schistosoma japonicum MicroRNA Exerts Antitumor Effects Through Inhibition of Both Cell Migration and Angiogenesis by Targeting PGAM1

“…Tumor microenvironment (TME), a complex ecosystem comprising of tumor cells, immune cells, and stromal populations including vascular cells and fibroblasts ( 34 , 35 ). Our data showed that vascular endothelial cells in tumors could take up sja-miR-61 secreted by tumor cells, which in turn affects the migration of vascular endothelial cells, and thereby hinders tumor growth.…”

Secreted Non-Coding RNAs: Functional Impact on the Tumor Microenvironment and Clinical Relevance in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

“…The possibility of using new and powerful technologies, such as single-cell RNA sequencing and mass cytometry, enabled shedding light on ncRNA-related dynamic changes of TME components during TNBC transformation and malignant progression [ 23 ]. The identification and the full understanding of circulating ncRNA roles in the TME could strongly help in assessing the risk of relapse and metastasis, the response to treatment and in developing new molecular targeted therapies to improve the survival in TNBC.…”

“…The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex environment composed of a variety of cell types including tumor cells, tumor stromal cells like fibroblasts, endothelial and immune cells [ 23 ]. In general, there is a crosstalk between cancer cells and the TME, therefore the TME affects the development and progression of cancer [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Prostate cancer in omics era

“…While the use of omics data, particularly genomics, has led to insights that have been used in clinical oncology to support treatment decisions, SC analysis, which has recently emerged as a promising approach for capturing invaluable cellular-level data, such as TME and metastasis status [ 75 , 120 ]. However, it is limited by artifacts caused by evolutionary dynamics during the growth of a laboratory clone and by the fact that it can only examine a small number of founder cells [ 121 ].…”