Comparative single-cell transcriptomes of dose and time dependent epithelial–mesenchymal spectrums. Issue 3 (21st September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Panchy, Nicholas; Watanabe, Kazuhide; Takahashi, Masataka; Willems, Andrew; Hong, Tian
• Is Part Of: NAR genomics and bioinformatics. Volume 4:Issue 3(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09-21
• Subjects: Genomics -- Periodicals; Bioinformatics -- Periodicals; 572.8
• DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqac072
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2631-9268

Abstract

Abstract: Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process involved in development and disease progression. Intermediate EMT states were observed in tumors and fibrotic tissues, but previous in vitro studies focused on time-dependent responses with single doses of signals; it was unclear whether single-cell transcriptomes support stable intermediates observed in diseases. Here, we performed single-cell RNA-sequencing with human mammary epithelial cells treated with multiple doses of TGF-β. We found that dose-dependent EMT harbors multiple intermediate states at nearly steady state. Comparisons of dose- and time-dependent EMT transcriptomes revealed that the dose-dependent data enable higher sensitivity to detect genes associated with EMT. We identified cell clusters unique to time-dependent EMT, reflecting cells en route to stable states. Combining dose- and time-dependent cell clusters gave rise to accurate prognosis for cancer patients. Our transcriptomic data and analyses uncover a stable EMT continuum at the single-cell resolution, and complementary information of two types of single-cell experiments.