Revolutionizing immunology with single-cell RNA sequencing

Abstract

The immune system is composed of a complex hierarchy of cell types that protect the organism against disease and maintain homeostasis. Identifying heterogeneity of immune cells is the key to understanding the immune system. Advanced single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technologies are revolutionizing our ability to study immunology. By measuring transcriptomes at the single-cell level, scRNA-seq enables identification of cellular heterogeneity in far greater detail than conventional methods. In this review, we introduce the existing scRNA-seq technologies and present their strengths and weaknesses. We also discuss potential applications and future innovations of scRNA-seq in immunology.

Fig. 1

Mapping the immune cell atlas by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). The advanced technologies in scRNA-seq allows construction of an immune cell atlas at the single-cell level. The immune cell atlas contains the detailed cellular and molecular signatures of immune cells from different physiological as well as pathological contexts, tissues, individuals, and species. scRNA-seq can also be combined with single-cell multi-omic analysis, and spatial gene expression analysis to promote our understanding of the immune system