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Semin Liver Dis 2021; 41(01): 009-018
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1722261
Review Article

Deciphering Tumor Heterogeneity in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC)—Multi-Omic and Singulomic Approaches

Renumathy Dhanasekaran
1   Department of Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
› Author Affiliations Funding U.S. Department of Health and Human Services >National Institutes of Health > National Cancer Institute CA222676.
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Abstract

Tumor heterogeneity, a key hallmark of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs), poses a significant challenge to developing effective therapies or predicting clinical outcomes in HCC. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing-based multi-omic and single cell analysis technologies have enabled us to develop high-resolution atlases of tumors and pull back the curtain on tumor heterogeneity. By combining multiregion targeting sampling strategies with deep sequencing of the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, and proteome, several studies have revealed novel mechanistic insights into tumor initiation and progression in HCC. Advances in multiparametric immune cell profiling have facilitated a deeper dive into the biological complexity of HCC, which is crucial in this era of immunotherapy. Moreover, studies using liquid biopsy have demonstrated their potential to circumvent the need for tissue sampling to investigate heterogeneity. In this review, we discuss how multi-omic and single-cell sequencing technologies have advanced our understanding of tumor heterogeneity in HCC.

Keywords

HCC - genomics - single cell - heterogeneity - liver cancer


Publication History

Article published online:
14 January 2021

© 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved.

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