CTSA (Colorectal Cancer Tumor Microenvironment Spatial Analysis)

Spatial context of immune checkpoints as predictors of overall survival in patients with resectable colorectal cancer independent of standard TNM stages

Hao Kong^†, Qingxin Yang^†, Chunwei Wu^†, ..., Lu Chen*, Zongguang Zhou*, Ping Wang*, Hong Jiang*

While immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has shown promising results in a small subset of colorectal cancer patients with high microsatellite instability (MSI-H), the majority of patients with colorectal cancer do not respond to ICB therapy. The main obstacle to the success of immunotherapy in cancer treatment is the exhaustion of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Elucidating the spatial organization of immune checkpoints within the tumor microenvironment could pave the way for the development of novel prognostic tools and therapeutic strategies to enhance antitumor immune responses.