Histology-Based Virtual RNA Inference Identifies Pathways Associated with Metastasis Risk in Colorectal Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major health concern, with over 150,000 new diagnoses and more than 50,000 deaths annually in the United States, underscoring an urgent need for improved screening, prognostication, disease management, and therapeutic approaches. The tumor microenvironment (TME)-comprising cancerous and immune cells interacting within the tumor's spatial architecture-plays a critical role in disease progression and treatment outcomes, reinforcing its importance as a prognostic marker for metastasis and recurrence risk. However, traditional methods for TME characterization, such as bulk transcriptomics and multiplex protein assays, lack sufficient spatial resolution. Although spatial transcriptomics (ST) allows for the high-resolution mapping of whole transcriptomes at near

SUBMITTER: Srinivasan G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12045403 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature