Immune and non-immune cell fencing of tumor cells is a widespread and functionally relevant spatial pattern in solid cancers.

ABSTRACT: Solid tumors are characterized by a spatially heterogeneous mixture of cancer cells, immune cells and other non-tumor cells. Recent characterization of the heterogeneity at the single cell level has revealed spatial patterns of different cell types often lacking a simple geometric structure associated with cancer progression. Here we investigated the occurrence of physical "fencing" of tumor cells by specific immune and non-immune phenotypes in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the association of these clusters to cancer progression in a wide range of solid tumors formed in different organs. We analyzed published datasets providing patient tumor progression data coupled with imaging mass cytometry (IMC) data obtained from tumor tissues to characterize the presence of fencing clusters of

SUBMITTER: Giuliani G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12722985 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature