Coordinated cellular neighborhoods orchestrate antitumoral immunity at the colorectal cancer invasive front

Cellular neighborhoods were algorithmically identified. We identified nine conserved, distinct cellular neighborhoods (CNs)–a collection of components characteristic of the CRC iTME. Enrichment of PD-1+CD4+ T cells only within a granulocyte CN positively correlated with survival in a high-risk patient subset.

Coupling of tumor and immune CNs, fragmentation of T cell and macrophage CNs, and disruption of inter-CN communication was associated with inferior outcomes. This study provides a framework for interrogating how complex biological processes, such as antitumoral immunity, occur through the concerted actions of cells and spatial domains. CRC_clusters_neighborhoods_markers.csv table contains cell types annotation, expression profiles, coordinates, neighborhood affiliation of all segmented objected identified in the TMAs analyzed in this study.

In addition, it contains information on the expression of selected markers Ki-67, PD-1 and ICOS on macrophage populations and T cell subsets.