Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women. It is a heterogeneous disease related to genetic and environmental factors. Presently, the treatment of breast cancer still faces challenges due to recurrence and metastasis. The emergence of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology has brought new strategies to deeply understand the biological behaviors of breast cancer. By analyzing cell phenotypes and transcriptome differences at the single-cell level, scRNA-seq reveals the heterogeneity, dynamic growth and differentiation process of cells. This review summarizes the application of scRNA-seq technology in breast cancer research, such as in studies on cell heterogeneity, cancer cell metastasis, drug resistance, and prognosis. scRNA-seq technology is of great significance to deeply analyze the mechanism of breast cancer occurrence and development, identify new therapeutic targets and develop new therapeutic approaches for breast cancer.

Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) neural differentiation involves extensive APA; however, reliance on short-read sequencing in prior studies has offered only a limited view of its complexity and dynamic regulation. Here, we integrated Oxford Nanopore (ONT) long-read sequencing with Illumina short-read sequencing to systematically map the APA landscape during early hESC neural differentiation. Our hybrid approach uncovered remarkable transcriptomic complexity, identifying 20,823 novel transcripts and 8241 previously unannotated poly(A) sites (PASs). We characterized distinct dynamic patterns of 3′ UTR-APA across differentiation and pinpointed SOX11 as a key APA-regulated target. Furthermore, we observed stage-specific enrichment of intronic APA in NPCs, as exemplified by SLC1A3, and performed a comprehensive, large-scale identification of high-confidence exon APA events. These results substantially expand the catalog of PASs during human neural differentiation and provide new insights into how APA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation contributes to cell-fate decisions.