Glioblastoma (GBM) is a heterogeneous tumor made up of cell states that evolve over time. Here, we modeled tumor evolutionary trajectories during standard-of-care treatment using multi-omic single-cell analysis of a primary tumor sample, corresponding mouse xenografts subjected to standard of care therapy, and recurrent tumor at autopsy. We mined the multi-omic data with single-cell SYstems Genetics Network AnaLysis (scSYGNAL) to identify a network of 52 regulators that mediate treatment-induced shifts in xenograft tumor-cell states that were also reflected in recurrence. By integrating scSYGNAL-derived regulatory network information with transcription factor accessibility deviations derived from single-cell ATAC-seq data, we developed consensus networks that modulate cell state transitions across subpopulations of primary and recurrent tumor cells. Finally, by matching targeted therapies to active regulatory networks underlying tumor evolutionary trajectories, we provide a framework for applying single-cell-based precision medicine approaches to an individual patient in a concurrent, adjuvant, or recurrent setting.

A single-cell based precision medicine approach using glioblastoma patient-specific models

James H. Park, Abdullah H. Feroze, Samuel N. Emerson, Anca B. Mihalas, C. Dirk Keene, Patrick J. Cimino, Adrian Lopez Garcia de Lomana, Kavya Kannan, Wei-Ju Wu, Serdar Turkarslan, Nitin S. Baliga & Anoop P. Patel

npj Precision Oncology volume 6, Article number: 55 (2022)