Rhabdoid Tumors Cellular Architecture by Single-cell Analyses (InnovRT-2)

Rhabdoid tumors are aggressive cancers of infancy. Although frequently chemosensitive at the very beginning, they very often show resistance, suggesting some intra-tumor diversity or plasticity. Moreover, morphological analysis of rhadoid tumors often reveal some variety in tumor cell shapes and immunohistochemical profiling. Altogether, this suggests some intra-tumor heterogeneity, that has been scarcely studied so far.

This project aims to describe the intra-tumor heterogeneity by single-cell sequencing approaches.

After surgical resection, fresh tumor samples will be dissected and analysed using the 10X Chromium technology. Briefly, cells will be grouped in clusters according to their gene expression signalling, and each cluster will be defined in comparison with all other ones. Differential analyses will allow identifying the main characteristic of each cell sub-population. Potential filiations between clusters will be analysed using classical algorithms. The study will be performed on 10 to 15 tumor samples.

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 0-17 years old
• having a rhabdoid tumor according to clinical and radiological features Or likely having a rhabdoid tumor according to clinical and radiological features
• surgical resection in standard care
• sufficient material for both diagnosis and experimental procedures
• parents' agreement