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Updated: Jul 7, 2025
Microfluidic Co-Culture Models for Dissecting the Immune Response in in vitro Tumor Microenvironments
Published on: April 30, 2021
Computational cell-cell interaction technologies drive mechanistic and biomarker discovery in the tumor
Avery Pong1, Clarence K Mah2, Gene W Yeo3
1Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Abstract:
Complex networks of cell-cell interactions (CCIs) within the tumor microenvironment (TME) play a crucial role in cancer persistence. These communication axes represent prime targets for therapeutic intervention, but our incomplete understanding of the cellular heterogeneity and interacting partners within the TME remains a stubborn barrier to complete drug responses. This review outlines recent advances in the study of CCIs that leverage single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and spatial transcriptomics (ST) technologies that can clarify TME dynamics. We anticipate that these strategies will promote discovery of CCIs critical to the tumor-immune interface and will, by extension, expand the repertoire of druggable tumor biomarkers.
