Spatial transcriptomics advances the use of canine patients in cancer research: a study of tumor-bearing pet dogs enrolled in an osteosarcoma clinical trial

Pet dogs spontaneously develop many of the same tumor types as humans including osteosarcoma. Utilizing the canine patient model facilitates the study of novel therapeutics and biomarkers within the context of spontaneous carcinogenesis, inclusive of treatment resistance, metastatic progression and immune responses that mirror that observed in human cancers. Recent advances in spatial transcriptomics have improved our ability to utilize formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues collected at canine autopsy. These techniques allow the canine model to be investigated alongside murine models to inform human cancer research. Herein we present the first application of the GeoMx Canine Cancer Atlas to outcome-linked samples from canine patients enrolled in an osteosarcoma clinical trial. Overall design: A tissue microarray (TMA) of primary osteosarcoma samples was assayed using the GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler. Samples were stratified by disease-free interval (DFI). Patients within the upper and lower tertiles were assigned to the High (n = 8) and Low DFI (n = 8) groups, respectively. Analyses included the identification of differentially expressed genes, pathway enrichment, and cell deconvolution.