Interconnectedness of Metastasis and Invasion at single-cell resolution

Single-cell sequencing-based methods are changing whole-organism sciences by opening up newopportunities for investigating complex ecosystems, particularly cancers. It gives researchers an excellentchance to analyze the functional states of cancer cells at single-cell resolution, allowing them to investigatethe functional heterogeneity of cancer cells and gain a better understanding of cancer cells as functional unitsperforming specific biological functions in the initiation and progression of cancer. Because metastasis andinvasion are mostly responsible for cancer mortality and morbidity, understanding how they interactcooperatively or competitively throughout the tumor's lifecycle is crucial. Therefore, by identifying specificpatterns of gene expression in single cells, we will clarify the mechanisms behind tumor invasion andmetastasis, which are critical for preventing cancer from spreading and simplifying its treatment. For thispurpose, we established a computational analysis based on CancerSEA and Omnipath database by employingthe Omnipath and GOfuncR packages in R software to look for genes that are shared by these two functionalstates and result in shared phenotypes. We found that among, ۴۱۹۰۰ cancer single cells in ۲۵ different humancancers, there are only ۵ protein-coding genes (PCGs) (including ACTB, ANXA۲, CFL۱, STMMN۱, andYWHAZ) that are associated with ۱۷۸ significant phenotypes (GO terms). According to our findings, thesefive PCGs may be critical genes in metastasis and invasion since they affect cell membrane, cell adhesion,cell movement, cell polarity, vesicle budding and fusion, cytoskeleton organization, and signal transduction.To be concluded, our results may pave the way for considering these five PCGs as plausible promising targetsfor targeted therapy.

Keywords:

Cancer , Phenotype , Single cell , Invasion , Metastasis , Functional states