Exploring Tumor Heterogeneity of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia using Single-Cell Multiomics

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia

CLL or chronic lymphocytic leukemia is the most common form of leukemia in adults. Understanding the heterogeneity of CLL tumor cells is important for the development of treatments and many bulk RNA-sequencing studies have provided insights into CLL pathogenesis. However, the complex mixture of cells used in such studies has failed to accurately elucidate the intratumoral heterogeneity of CLL. The emergence of single-cell RNA sequencing technology provides an unprecedented opportunity to address this problem and to discover disease-specific signatures of CLL.

Unraveling CLL using  flow cytometry and single-cell Multiomics

In this study, PBMCs (peripheral blood mononuclear cells) samples from both healthy subjects and CLL patients were stained with BD™ Single-Cell Multiplexing Kit, fluorochrome-labelled antibodies and 33 BD™ AbSeq oligo-conjugated antibodies. CD19+ cells were sorted using a BD FACSMelody™ cell sorter and pooled together to be loaded into a BD Rhapsody™ single-cell analysis system. The captured cells were profiled using the BD Rhapsody™ Human Immune Response Panel.

The experiment performed with this unique workflow revealed several disease-specific signature markers of CLL and has enabled the profiling of differentially expressed genes or surface proteins in both CLL and healthy samples at a single-cell level.

Download the application note on targeted mRNA and protein expression profiling in single cells and learn more about BD single-cell multiomics solutions.