Single-cell technologies are revolutionizing the approach to rare cells
: Proserpio V, Lonnberg T
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
: 2016
: Immunology and Cell Biology
: IMMUNOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY
: IMMUNOL CELL BIOL
: 94
: 3
: 225
: 229
: 5
: 0818-9641
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/icb.2015.106
In the last lustrum single-cell techniques such as single-cell quantitative PCR, RNA and DNA sequencing, and the state-of-the-art cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) mass cytometer have allowed a detailed analysis of the sub-composition of different organs from the bone marrow hematopoietic compartment to the brain. These fine-grained analyses have highlighted the great heterogeneity within each cell compartment revealing previously unknown subpopulations of cells. In this review, we analyze how this fast technological evolution has improved our understanding of the biological processes with a particular focus on rare cells of the immune system.