Recent advances and current issues in single-cell sequencing of tumors

Intratumoral heterogeneity is a recently recognized but important feature of cancer that underlies the various biocharacteristics of cancer tissues. The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has facilitated large scale capture of genomic data, while the recent development of single-cell sequencing has allowed for more in-depth studies into the complex molecular mechanisms of intratumoral heterogeneity. In this review, the recent advances and current challenges in single-cell sequencing methodologies are discussed, highlighting the potential power of these data to provide insights into oncological processes, from tumorigenesis through progression to metastasis and therapy resistance. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).