More than 10,000 cells are sequenced separately: the most detailed liver map of humans is available
Today, Nature has published a recent development in the human liver atlas. By performing single-cell RNA sequencing on more than 10,000 hepatocytes from different tissues of the liver, scientists have not only found a new type of liver cell but also hope to provide a new way of thinking for liver cancer treatment. The Academic Jingwei team will also work with readers today to interpret the practice and significance of this research.
First, why is the liver?
The liver is an important organ of the human body and has an extremely diverse and important function: on the one hand, it can turn sugar, protein, and fat in food into metabolic molecules that are useful to the human body and release it to the whole body; on the other hand, it is also a human body. The important immune organs are responsible for the "detoxification" of the blood; in addition, the liver has a strong ability to regenerate, even if only a quarter of the original weight is left, it can grow back to its original size, fascinating scientists.
In addition to its important physiological functions, there is another reason to study the liver: liver disease. On a global scale, liver disease has become one of the leading causes of death. The horror of liver cancer does not need to be mentioned much. Fatty liver and other diseases will also leave the liver with irreparable damage and affect human health. Therefore, by constructing a liver map, we can better understand different types of liver cells, ascertain their functions, decrypt their biological processes, and ultimately benefit human health.
Second, how is this research done?
To map out the liver map, the scientists recruited a total of nine human volunteers, including healthy people and patients with liver disease. From these volunteers, the researchers analyzed more than 10,000 liver cells and performed deep single-cell RNA sequencing to understand how different genes are expressed in each cell."mRNA can send biological blueprints stored in DNA to protein synthesis plants. By analyzing which RNA molecules are present in a particular cell at a given time, we can find which genes are active," said Dominic Grün, one of the heads of the study.
It is worth mentioning that this study has brought together a variety of different liver cell types, including hepatocytes, vascular endothelial cells, and biliary cells. Researchers believe that with this rich data, we can understand the changes in the liver's natural development or disease development with unprecedented resolution.
Third, find new liver cells
Under exhaustive analysis, the researchers were delighted to find a variety of new liver cells. They look almost exactly the same as normal liver cells, but they are quite different in gene expression. In other words, these different genes are expressed like fingerprints of individual cells, making them look different.One of the most exciting types of cells is in the bile duct. In normal cognition, the bile duct is simply a conduit for delivering secreted bile to the gallbladder. But never imagined that researchers found a class of cells with similar stem cell activity. They can not only differentiate into bile duct cells but also differentiate into hepatic parenchymal cells under appropriate conditions. Researchers believe that these new cells are the key to the liver's ability to regenerate. And when they are abnormal, it can cause liver disease, even liver cancer!
Fourth, the enlightenment of patients with liver cancer
Researchers point out that their analytical tools are expected to bring new opportunities to liver cancer patients. From the past, patients with liver cancer will undergo tissue biopsy to confirm the lesion. But this biopsy will mix many different types of cells, so the subsequent genetic analysis is more like the overall "average", and cannot accurately reflect the abnormalities of the diseased cells.
The researchers point out that their liver map provides an objective "control." By comparing healthy cells with liver cancer cells, scientists have found some new biomarkers for liver cancer. In the future, if single-cell sequencing of hepatocytes can be performed in a physical examination, it may be possible to discover the clues of liver cancer at an early stage.
“I believe that cancer research methods using single-cell sequencing can help improve the diagnosis of cancer and ultimately benefit the treatment of cancer,” Professor Grün added. “In the future, we will not only reveal the interactions between different cell types of tumors but also You can see how these interactions can affect disease progression."
V. Summary
Taken together, this heavyweight study provides an excellent tool for studying liver physiology and liver disease, and it will further advance research and hopefully lead to better diagnosis and treatment of liver disease in the future.(Katja News)
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