title: Single-cell analysis tools for drug discovery and development.
abstract: The genetic, functional or compositional heterogeneity of healthy and diseased tissues presents major challenges in drug discovery and development. Such heterogeneity hinders the design of accurate disease models and can confound the interpretation of biomarker levels and of patient responses to specific therapies. The complex nature of virtually all tissues has motivated the development of tools for single-cell genomic, transcriptomic and multiplex proteomic analyses. Here, we review these tools and assess their advantages and limitations. Emerging applications of single cell analysis tools in drug discovery and development, particularly in the field of oncology, are discussed.
authors.affiliation: California Institute of Technology Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, MC 127-72, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Heath
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribas
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research San Diego, Department of Pathology and Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Paul S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Mischel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*