Droplet microfluidics for single-molecule and single-cell analysis in cancer research, diagnosis and therapy

• We highlight droplet microfluidics in cancer research, diagnosis and therapy.
• Droplet microfluidics is suitable for single-molecule and single-cell analysis.
• Molecular and cellular heterogeneity can be dissected using droplet microfluidics.

Genetic and functional heterogeneity of tumor cells represents major obstacles to cancer research, detection and effective treatment. In order to develop new therapeutic approaches in an era of personalized medicine, it is important to understand the functional characteristics of DNA, RNA, and proteins at the single-molecule level in individual cancer cells. Droplet microfluidics has emerged as a new tool that offers advantages in analyzing single molecules and single cells for high-throughput analysis with exceptional sensitivity. In this review, we highlight some recent reports that employed droplet microfluidics for cancer research, diagnostics, and therapeutics, and offer a view on future applications.