Spatial analyses of immune cell infiltration in cancer: current methods and future directions. A report of the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer

Publication date

2023-08

Authors

Page, David B
Broeckx, Glenn
Jahangir, Chowdhury Arif
Verbandt, Sara
Gupta, Rajarsi R
Thagaard, Jeppe
Khiroya, Reena
Kos, Zuzana
Abduljabbar, Khalid
Acosta Haab, Gabriela

Editors

Advisors

Supervisors

Document Type

Article

Collections

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License

taverne

Abstract

Modern histologic imaging platforms coupled with machine learning methods have provided new opportunities to map the spatial distribution of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. However, there exists no standardized method for describing or analyzing spatial immune cell data, and most reported spatial analyses are rudimentary. In this review, we provide an overview of two approaches for reporting and analyzing spatial data (raster versus vector-based). We then provide a compendium of spatial immune cell metrics that have been reported in the literature, summarizing prognostic associations in the context of a variety of cancers. We conclude by discussing two well-described clinical biomarkers, the breast cancer stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes score and the colon cancer Immunoscore, and describe investigative opportunities to improve clinical utility of these spatial biomarkers.

Keywords

Immunoscore, multispectral immunofluorescence, spatial heterogeneity, spatial statistics, sTIL score, TIL, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, Taverne, Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Review, Journal Article

Citation

Page, D B, Broeckx, G, Jahangir, C A, Verbandt, S, Gupta, R R, Thagaard, J, Khiroya, R, Kos, Z, Abduljabbar, K, Acosta Haab, G, Acs, B, Almeida, J S, Alvarado-Cabrero, I, Azmoudeh-Ardalan, F, Badve, S, Baharun, N B, Bellolio, E R, Bheemaraju, V, Blenman, K R, Botinelly Mendonça Fujimoto, L, Burgues, O, Cheang, M C U, Ciompi, F, Cooper, L A, Coosemans, A, Corredor, G, Dantas Portela, F L, Deman, F, Demaria, S, Dudgeon, S N, Elghazawy, M, Ely, S, Fernandez-Martín, C, Fineberg, S, Fox, S B, Gallagher, W M, Giltnane, J M, Gnjatic, S, Gonzalez-Ericsson, P I, Grigoriadis, A, Halama, N, Hanna, M G, Harbhajanka, A, Hardas, A, Hart, S N, Hartman, J, Hewitt, S, Hida, A I, Horlings, H M, Husain, Z, Hytopoulos, E, Irshad, S, Janssen, E A, Kahila, M, Kataoka, T R, Kawaguchi, K, Kharidehal, D, Khramtsov, A I, Kiraz, U, Kirtani, P, Kodach, L L, Korski, K, Kovács, A, Laenkholm, A-V, Lang-Schwarz, C, Larsimont, D, Lennerz, J K, Lerousseau, M, Li, X, Ly, A, Madabhushi, A, Maley, S K, Manur Narasimhamurthy, V, Marks, D K, McDonald, E S, Mehrotra, R, Michiels, S, Minhas, F U A A, Mittal, S, Moore, D A, Mushtaq, S, Nighat, H, Papathomas, T, Penault-Llorca, F, Perera, R D, Pinard, C J, Pinto-Cardenas, J C, Pruneri, G, Pusztai, L, Rahman, A, Rajpoot, N M, Rapoport, B L, Rau, T T, Reis-Filho, J S, Ribeiro, J M, Rimm, D, Salomon, A-V, Salto-Tellez, M, Saltz, J, Sayed, S, Siziopikou, K P, Sotiriou, C, Stenzinger, A, Sughayer, M A, Sur, D, Symmans, F, Tanaka, S, Taxter, T, Tejpar, S, Teuwen, J, Thompson, E A, Tramm, T, Tran, W T, van der Laak, J, van Diest, P J, Verghese, G E, Viale, G, Vieth, M, Wahab, N, Walter, T, Waumans, Y, Wen, H Y, Yang, W, Yuan, Y, Adams, S, Bartlett, J M S, Loibl, S, Denkert, C, Savas, P, Loi, S, Salgado, R, Specht Stovgaard, E, Akturk, G & Bouchmaa, N 2023, 'Spatial analyses of immune cell infiltration in cancer : current methods and future directions. A report of the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer', Journal of Pathology, vol. 260, no. 5, pp. 514-532. https://doi.org/10.1002/path.6165