Issue 20, 2018

A single-cell translocation and secretion assay (TransSeA)

Abstract

Understanding biological heterogeneity at the single cell level is required for advancing insights into the complexity of human physiology and diseases. While advances in technological and analytical methods have afforded unprecedented glimpses of this heterogeneity, the information captured to date largely represents one-time “snap” shots of single cell physiology. To address the limits of existing methods and to accelerate discoveries from single cell studies, we developed a single-cell translocation and secretion assay (TransSeA) that supports time lapse analysis, enables molecular cargo analysis of secretions such as extracellular vesicles (EVs) from single cells, allows massively parallel single cell transfer according to user-defined cell selection criteria, and supports tracking of phenotypes between parental and progeny cells derived from single cells. To demonstrate the unique capabilities and efficiencies of the assay, we present unprecedented single cell studies related to cell secretions, EV cargos and cell intrinsic properties. Although used as examples to demonstrate the feasibility and versatility of the technology, the studies already provided insights into key unanswered questions such as the microRNAs carried by EVs, the relationships between EV secretion rates and gene expressions, and the spontaneous, trans-generational phenotypic changes in EV secretion between parental and progeny cells.

Graphical abstract: A single-cell translocation and secretion assay (TransSeA)

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Aug 2018
Accepted
27 Aug 2018
First published
28 Aug 2018

Lab Chip, 2018,18, 3154-3162

Author version available

A single-cell translocation and secretion assay (TransSeA)

W. Cai, Y. Chiu, V. Ramakrishnan, Y. Tsai, C. Chen and Y. Lo, Lab Chip, 2018, 18, 3154 DOI: 10.1039/C8LC00821C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements