Hepatitis B virus compartmentalization and single-cell differentiation in hepatocellular carcinoma

Unraveling the Complexity of Liver Disease One Cell at a Time

The human liver is a complex organ made up of multiple specialized cell types that carry out key physiological functions. An incomplete understanding of liver biology limits our ability to develop therapeutics to prevent chronic liver diseases, liver cancers, and death as a result of organ failure. Recently, single-cell modalities have expanded our understanding of the cellular phenotypic heterogeneity and intercellular cross-talk in liver health and disease. This review summarizes these findings and looks forward to highlighting new avenues for the application of single-cell genomics to unravel unknown pathogenic pathways and disease mechanisms for the development of new therapeutics targeting liver pathology. As these technologies mature, their integration into clinical data analysis will aid in patient stratification and in developing treatment plans for patients suffering from liver disease.

Single-Cell Transcriptomics of Liver Cancer: Hype or Insights?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by its high degrees of both inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity. Its complex tumor microenvironment is also crucial in promoting tumor progression. Recent advances in single-cell RNA sequencing provide an important highway to characterize the underlying pathogenesis and heterogeneity of HCC in an unprecedented degree of resolution. This review discusses the up-to-date discoveries from the latest studies of HCC with respect to the strength of single-cell RNA sequencing. We discuss its use in the dissection of the landscape of the intricate HCC ecosystem and highlight the major features at cellular levels, including the malignant cells, different immune cell types, and the various cell-cell interactions, which are crucial for developing effective immunotherapies. Finally, its translational applications will be discussed. Altogether, these explorations may give us some hints at the tumor growth and progression and drug resistance and recurrence, particularly in this era of personalized medicine.