Navigating the immunosuppressive brain tumor microenvironment using spatial biology

Abstract

With the application of spatial biology, the detection and identification of the diverse cell types present in the tumor microenvironment, including specific immune subsets, is possible at single cell resolution. Since spatial biology analysis of tumor tissue allows multiple biological parameters to be measured, including cell type, cell number, cell state, as well as the precise location and the spatial relationship of every cell to other cells and histopathological hallmarks, a vast amount of data is generated. The power of this is realized when correlating the spatial biology data with clinical data for each patient, from which the tissue was collected during biopsy or surgery, conducted as part of the patient's diagnosis and treatment. Aside from the enormous leap in chemistry and molecular biology technology required to develop the analytical tools for spatial biology, collection, analysis of cells in the tumor microenvironment has been possible only with the development of computational tools capable of deciphering tumor tissue complexity to predict tumor evolution and response to treatment and the role of immune cells in regulating tumor biology. Here we describe how spatial biology analysis, combined with computational analysis have been used to deconstruct the complexity of the brain tumor microenvironment and shed light on why brain tumors exhibit extreme immunosuppression. We also discuss how the understanding gained using spatial biology has shed light on how tumor immunosuppression can be overcome.