Deciphering tumor heterogeneity from FFPE tissues: Its promise and challenges

Abstract

An impediment to the understanding of cancer is the heterogeneous nature of cell populations within a tumor microenvironment. We reported a method to query protein signaling in single epithelial cells from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) colorectal cancer tissues. Here, we discuss the feasibility and limitations of this approach for investigating signaling state heterogeneity.

Keywords

• colorectal cancer
• disaggregation
• epithelial cells
• ffpe
• mass cytometry
• solid tissues
• single cell
• systems biology
• signal transduction
• tumor heterogeneity