A single-cell tumor immune atlas for precision oncology

TLDR

The tumor immune microenvironment drives cancer progression and is a key therapeutic target, yet its composition varies widely among patients, limiting the precision of prognostic and treatment biomarkers. This study aims to create a comprehensive atlas of tumor immune cells to identify predictive cellular states and their spatial distribution. By integrating over 500,000 cells from 217 patients across 13 cancer types, the authors built a single‑cell atlas that supports automated cell annotation of external tumors and, using SPOTlight, maps immune, stromal, and cancer cell colocalization in spatial transcriptomics data. The resulting atlas and analytical toolbox are expected to improve patient stratification for prognosis and immunotherapy.

Abstract

The tumor immune microenvironment is a main contributor to cancer progression and a promising therapeutic target for oncology. However, immune microenvironments vary profoundly between patients, and biomarkers for prognosis and treatment response lack precision. A comprehensive compendium of tumor immune cells is required to pinpoint predictive cellular states and their spatial localization. We generated a single-cell tumor immune atlas, jointly analyzing published data sets of >500,000 cells from 217 patients and 13 cancer types, providing the basis for a patient stratification based on immune cell compositions. Projecting immune cells from external tumors onto the atlas facilitated an automated cell annotation system. To enable in situ mapping of immune populations for digital pathology, we applied SPOTlight, combining single-cell and spatial transcriptomics data and identifying colocalization patterns of immune, stromal, and cancer cells in tumor sections. We expect the tumor immune cell atlas, together with our versatile toolbox for precision oncology, to advance currently applied stratification approaches for prognosis and immunotherapy.