Longitudinal Imaging of the Premalignant Tumor Microenvironment Reveals Transient Myeloid States Predictive of Tumor Fate.

ABSTRACT: The spontaneous regression of cancer lesions demonstrates the potential of immune surveillance; yet, these transient events have remained inaccessible to systematic study. Using longitudinal intravital microscopy in a carcinogen-induced model of head and neck cancer, we tracked premalignant lesions within the same animals for 24 weeks at single-cell resolution. This approach revealed three trajectories: progression, stability, or regression, and enabled dissection of the immune dynamics underlying each fate. Lesion outcome was dictated by the spatial organization of myeloid-derived antigen-presenting cells: regressing lesions were characterized by dense clusters of myeloid-derived cells associated with CXCL9⁺/CXCL10⁺ expression and T cell recruitment, whereas progress

SUBMITTER: Madsen TD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12637611 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature