title: Single-cell technologies to study the immune system.
abstract: The immune system is composed of a variety of cells that act in a coordinated fashion to protect the organism against a multitude of different pathogens. The great variability of existing pathogens corresponds to a similar high heterogeneity of the immune cells. The study of individual immune cells, the fundamental unit of immunity, has recently transformed from a qualitative microscopic imaging to a nearly complete quantitative transcriptomic analysis. This shift has been driven by the rapid development of multiple single-cell technologies. These new advances are expected to boost the detection of less frequent cell types and transient or intermediate cell states. They will highlight the individuality of each single cell and greatly expand the resolution of current available classifications and differentiation trajectories. In this review we discuss the recent advancement and application of single-cell technologies, their limitations and future applications to study the immune system.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.|European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Proserpio
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.|European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Bidesh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mahata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005544:Forecasting; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000639:trends; D005838:Genotype; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D007158:Immunologic Techniques / Q000639:trends; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D010641:Phenotype; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000639:trends; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D012313:RNA
keywords: CD4+ T helper cells; immune cells; single-cell RNA-sequencing; single-cell technology