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 >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 for a harmonized interpretation. To enable in situ mapping of immune populations for digital pathology, we applied SPOTlight, combining single-cell and spatial transcriptomics data and identifying striking spatial immune cell patterns 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 immuno-therapy.
Competing Interest Statement
JS is co-founder of Mosaic Biomedicals, Board member of Northern-Mosaic partnership and has ownership interests from Mosaic Biomedicals and Northern Biologics. JS received grant/research support from Mosaic Biomedicals, Northern Biologics, Roche/Glycart and Hoffmann la Roche. JS reports scientific consultancy role for Merck Serono, GSK, Eli Lilly. All authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript.
