Abstract 2506: Simultaneous DNA, RNA and protein analysis from single cells using a high-throughput microfluidic workflow for resolution of genotype-to-phenotype modalities

The TCGA, ICGC and other research consortiums has shown that an integral, multi-omic analysis of tumors is necessary in order to understand a more complete picture of the signaling pathways involved in development, evolution, prognosis and treatment resistance of tumors. However, in such studies, because different data modalities (“omics”) are analyzed separately, the information on how the co-existence of in the same cell is lacking. We report a new approach to measure multiple modalities simultaneously from up to 10,000 individual cells using high-throughput droplet microfluidics on the Tapestri platform, paired with next generation sequencing. Our triomic methodology evaluates targeted protein levels, mRNA transcript levels and somatic gDNA sequence variations (SNV & CNV) from the same cell. We employ oligonucleotide-conjugated antibody panels to probe cellular surface markers and targeted RNA and DNA amplification to resolve gene expression levels and genomic variants. Cell suspensions are first stained with cocktails of oligonucleotide-antibodies. These cells are loaded onto the Mission Bio Tapestri® microfluidic cartridge for generation of the first droplet. This droplet biochemistry allows for concurrent cell lysis and release of gDNA from chromatin scaffolding. A second droplet formation event brings together a barcoded bead and multiplex PCR amplification reagents. After amplification, the combined libraries are sequenced and demultiplexed bioinformatically yielding a multi-omics readout from the single-cells. Six protein surface markers, 35 transcripts and 88 genomic regions in 68 genes were interrogated with a 50:50 cell mixture of MCF7 and GM12878 cells. These targets play key roles in cellular migration, stemness, differentiation and proliferation. We intend to further explore the relationship between genotype-to-phenotype in breast carcinoma cell lines cultured in patient-derived scaffolds mimicking tumor microenvironments under different drug regimen conditions. We report the dynamic multimodal resolution and demonstrate utility of triomics in further illuminating cellular states and biological responses. Citation Format: Pedro Mendez, Dalia Dhingra, Aik Ooi, Shu Wang, Saurabh Gulati, Nigel Beard, Manimozhi Manivannan, Jens Bjorkman, Mikael Kubista, Goran Landberg, David Ruff, Anders Stahlberg. Simultaneous DNA, RNA and protein analysis from single cells using a high-throughput microfluidic workflow for resolution of genotype-to-phenotype modalities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2506.