Dana-Farber 发布结直肠癌单细胞图谱，覆盖189个肿瘤
STAT+: New atlas of colorectal tumors sheds light on why cancers in young people are more dangerous
Dana-Farber 癌症研究所的 Kimmie Ng 在 Nature Medicine 发表研究，构建了覆盖20多岁至90多岁患者的结直肠癌单细胞图谱，共纳入189个肿瘤，研究团队称这是该领域规模最大的生物学数据库。
For years, scientists have struggled to elucidate key biological differences between early onset colorectal cancer, typically in patients under the age of 50, and older patients. They’ve long believed that these cancers must be biologically distinct, since younger patients tend to be far more difficult to treat. They’re often diagnosed at later stages with tumors with more aggressive features.
“Their survival, especially for the very youngest patients under the age of 35, may actually not be as good as somebody in their 40s or someone in their 60s, despite receiving more aggressive treatment and being at baseline healthier,” said Kimmie Ng, a colorectal cancer researcher and director of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center. “So we have always believed tumors may be biologically different.”
On Thursday, Ng published a new study in Nature Medicine that may help illuminate critical differences between older and younger colorectal cancer patients. With 189 tumors, it’s the largest biological database — what researchers call a single cell atlas — of colorectal cancer tumors in patients ranging from their 20s to their 90s. The atlas, along with the technology Ng and her colleagues used, should help researchers control for variables that confounded studies in the past.
来源：STAT News · statnews.com