From cell to cell: Identification of actionable targets in bone marrow fibrosis using single-cell technologies

Single-cell technologies have rapidly developed in recent years and have already had a significant impact on the research of myeloproliferative neoplasms. The increasing number of publicly available data sets allows characterization of the bone marrow niche in patients and mouse models at unprecedented resolution. Single-cell RNA sequencing has successfully been used to identify and characterize disease-driving cell populations and to identify the alarmin S100A8/A9 as an important mediator of myelofibrosis and potent therapeutic target. It is now possible to execute a streamlined set of experiments to specifically identify and validate actionable target genes functionally with the advance of reliable in vivo models and the possibility of conducting single-cell analyses with a minimal amount of patient material. The advent of large-scale analyses of both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic bone marrow cells will allow comprehensive network analyses guiding an increasingly detailed mapping of the MPN interactome.