Can we do drug repositioning without disease gene expression?

Abstract

Can we do drug repositioning without disease gene expression? Chuo University’s Professor Y-h. Taguchi examines the application of cutting-edge single-cell-based measurements in drug repositioning. Single-cell analysis is a new trend in genomic science. Prior to its development, measurements were made on whole tissues. However, because tissues are composed of millions of cells, measuring them can miss important information. Imagine trying to understand the economic status of a big city with millions of people based only on the average income. Even if two cities have the same average income, one might be a mixture of a small number of rich people and many poor people, while the other might be composed of people who have almost the same income. Without detailed information about the distribution of income, we would not be able to distinguish between the two cities from an economic point of view. In the same way, single-cell measurements have opened the door to a true understanding of the genomic state of living material. By measuring the gene expression of individual cells, we can identify the different cell types present in a tissue and their relative abundance. This information can be used to understand how tissues function and how they respond to different stimuli.