Single-Cell Sequencing Identifies Prognostic Genes in Colorectal Cancer

A new study combined single-cell RNA sequencing with bulk transcriptome data to identify genes linked to anoikis, a form of programmed cell death critical for preventing tumor spread. By analyzing single-cell profiles, researchers were able to pinpoint cell populations where anoikis-related genes are most active, providing a more precise view of tumor heterogeneity than bulk methods alone.

From this analysis, they built a 10-gene prognostic model that can predict colorectal cancer survival with strong accuracy, reaching AUC values of 0.744, 0.797, and 0.755 at 1, 3, and 5 years respectively. Genes such as MGP, TPM2, and NOTCH3 were highlighted as key contributors. The work shows how integrating single-cell sequencing improves biomarker discovery and offers a framework for risk stratification in complex cancers.

A t-SNE plot of cellular compositions in the normal and tumor samples

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-15389-8