Unlocking the past: New method helps gain insights into old tissues
A book sits atop a table. Although it's closed, its title, "Encyclopedia of Human Tissue," promises untold secrets. Perhaps with this book, you can learn about different cell types and what they look like under normal conditions or conditions of disease. Maybe you can learn how gene expression differs in the cells of younger and older people, or whether different patients' cells respond…
The article "Unlocking the past: New method helps gain insights into old tissues" discusses a groundbreaking technique in cell biology that enables scientists to gain valuable information from old patient samples that were previously difficult to access. The technique, pioneered by Professor Ken Lau's lab, utilizes single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to unlock the secrets within human tissues that have been preserved for over a century in formalin and paraffin wax.
While scRNA-seq has transformed the understanding of tissue heterogeneity, it has struggled to work effectively with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples due to potential damage to molecular information during preservation. Previous methods allowed scientists to isolate cell nuclei from FFPE samples, but this approach often led to the loss of crucial RNA information.
The new method, however, builds upon a previous technique developed by James Evans, a graduate student in the Lau lab, to isolate and recover high-quality, intact cells for further study. By recovering whole cells instead of just nuclei, the team was able to capture a more comprehensive biological information within each cell, potentially turning vast archives of patient samples stored in hospitals into a rich source of molecular data.
The method has shown particularly promising results in colon tissue, recovering cells better than previous approaches, while still providing some benefits in thymus tissue. This breakthrough could enable researchers to study archived tumors and compare cell differences between patients with varying treatment responses or outcomes, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of disease development, patient outcomes, and new therapeutic targets.
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