Spatial Analysis of a Complete DIPG-Infiltrated Brainstem Reveals Novel Ligand-Receptor Mediators of Tumor-to-TME Crosstalk

Previous studies have highlighted the capacity of brain cancer cells to functionally interact with the tumor microenvironment (TME). This TME-cancer crosstalk crucially contributes to tumor cell invasion and disease progression. In this study, we performed spatial transcriptomic sequencing analysis of a complete annotated DIPG tumor-infiltrated patient brainstem. We identified four distinct tumor subpopulations and assessed respective ligand-receptor pairs that actively promote DIPG tumor progression via crosstalk with endothelial, neuronal and immune cell communities. These interactions might promote DIPG tumor progression and represent novel therapeutic targets. In this study, we performed 10x Visium spatial transcriptomic sequencing of a complete annotated tumor-infiltrated brainstem from a single DIPG patient. Gene signatures from ten sequential tumor regions were analysed to assess mechanisms of disease progression, invasion and oncogenic interactions with the TME. *************************************************************** Raw files for human/patient samples were not submitted to GEO due to concerns about submitting personally identifiable sequence data for open access. ***************************************************************