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Tumor immunology

Spatial proteomics of tumor microenvironments reveal why location matters

Nature Immunology volume 24, pages 565–566 (2023)Cite this article

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Capturing cell organization in the tumor microenvironment using spatial proteomics can provide insight into the disease. A pair of studies applying this to advanced lung and brain tumors identifies organizational immune hallmarks that are associated with patient outcomes.

Cancer progression depends largely on a tumor’s ability to recruit metabolic resources, avoid immune activation, transition to a mesenchymal state that is capable of angiolymphatic invasion, and proliferate at distant organ sites. These processes are coupled through a network of spatial interactions between tumor, immune and stromal cells both within the local tumor microenvironment (TME) and draining lymph nodes. Consequently, examining them requires the ability to simultaneously quantify the expression of multiple proteins while preserving spatial information at a subcellular level. However, the complex spatial organization of these cellular components and how they relate to the functional dynamics of the TME have only recently garnered attention1.

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Fig. 1: Spatial proteomics of the tumor microenvironment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Hadeesha Piyadasa, Michael Angelo & Sean C. Bendall

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  1. Hadeesha Piyadasa
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  2. Michael Angelo
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  3. Sean C. Bendall
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Michael Angelo or Sean C. Bendall.

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Competing interests

M.A. and S.C.B. declare that they are founders and paid consultants for Ionpath, the commercial supplier of MIBI spatial proteomic technology. H.P. declares no competing interests.

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Piyadasa, H., Angelo, M. & Bendall, S.C. Spatial proteomics of tumor microenvironments reveal why location matters. Nat Immunol 24, 565–566 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01471-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01471-8

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