A new study published in Nature explores the dynamic changes that colorectal cancer (CRC) cells undergo during their transition to the metastatic state by comparing primary tumours with metastases. “Clinically, metastases are less responsive to therapy than primary tumours in the same patients, despite harbouring the same mutations,” says Karuna Ganesh, co-corresponding author of the study.

The researchers collected trios of same-patient biopsy samples of normal colon, primary and metastatic tissue from 31 patients with microsatellite-stable mismatch-repair-proficient CRC undergoing synchronous colectomy and liver metastasectomy for metastatic CRC treatment. “We applied computational algorithms to single-cell RNA-sequencing collected from each trio to identify a series of conserved intermediate steps during the transition to the metastatic steps, including a reversion to an earlier fetal-like state along the transition,” says co-corresponding author Dana Pe’er.

发表在《自然》杂志上的一项新研究通过比较原发性肿瘤和转移瘤，探讨了结直肠癌 （CRC） 细胞在过渡到转移状态期间所经历的动态变化。“在临床上，尽管携带相同的突变，但同一患者的转移对治疗的反应不如原发性肿瘤，”该研究的共同通讯作者 Karuna Ganesh 说。

研究人员从 31 名接受同步结肠切除术和肝转移性 CRC 治疗以进行转移性 CRC 治疗的微卫星稳定错配修复熟练的 CRC 患者中收集了正常结肠、原发性和转移组织的三份相同患者活检样本。“我们将计算算法应用于从每个三重奏收集的单细胞 RNA 测序，以确定在过渡到转移步骤期间的一系列保守的中间步骤，包括在过渡过程中恢复到早期的胎儿样状态，”共同通讯作者 Dana Pe'er 说。