ArticleMolecular biology reports2026
Single-cell RNA sequencing of circulating tumour cells in colorectal cancer.
Article in Molecular biology reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCirculating tumour cells (CTCs) are key mediators of metastasis and exhibit marked phenotypic plasticity driven by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Traditional marker-based CTC isolation approaches rely on epithelial marker expression, which may fail to capture mesenchymal and hybrid CTC subpopulations. Hybrid CTCs remain poorly characterised in colorectal cancer (CRC). This study explored transcriptionally defined CTC subpopulations in CRC to provide insight into CTC heterogeneity.
methodsSingle-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) fractions from four treatment-naive CRC patients (AJCC stages I-IV). Integrated analysis with healthy PBMC controls enabled immune cell exclusion and cell-type annotation. CTCs were identified using epithelial and mesenchymal transcriptional scores together with CD45 negativity. Differential expression, pathway enrichment, and pseudotime analyses were used to characterise epithelial, mesenchymal, and hybrid CTC states.
resultsSubpopulations of epithelial, mesenchymal, and hybrid cells were identified in one CRC patient. Hybrid CTCs exhibited distinct transcriptional features and enrichment of pathways related to RNA metabolism, protein trafficking, mitochondrial energy production, DNA repair, and cytoskeletal organisation. Trajectory inference suggested a continuous EMT spectrum, with hybrid CTCs occupying intermediate pseudotime states characterised by progressive loss of epithelial markers and acquisition of mesenchymal-associated features.
conclusionThis study explored CTC heterogeneity in CRC using single-cell transcriptomics and identified epithelial, hybrid, and mesenchymal CTC states within the analysed sample. Hybrid CTCs exhibited distinct transcriptional features, providing preliminary insight into the transcriptional diversity of CRC CTCs. Further studies in larger cohorts are required to validate these findings and determine their clinical relevance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.