Publication: A Pan-Cancer Census of Dominant Tumor Immune Archetypes

Published in: 2021

Authors: Rafael J Argüello, Alexis Combes, Bushra Samad, Jessica Tsui, Nayvin Chew, Peter Yan, Gabriella Reeder, Divyashree Kushnoor, Alan Shen, Brittany Davidson, Andrea Barczac, Michael Adkisson, Austin Edwards, Mohammad Naser, Kevin Barry, Tristan Courau, Taymour Hammoudi, Arjun Arkal Rao, Adam Olshen, Cathy Cai, Jenny Zhan, Katelyn Davis, Robin Kelley, Jocelyn Chapman, Chloe Attreya, Amar Patel, Adil Daud, Patrick Ha, Aaron Diaz, Johannes Kratz, Eric Collisson, Gabriela Fragiadakis, David Erle, Alexandre Boissonnas, Saurabh Asthana, Vincent Chan, Matthew Krummel

Summary

SUMMARY Cancers display significant heterogeneity with respect to tissue of origin, driver mutations and other features of the surrounding tissue. It is likely that persistent tumors differentially engage inherent patterns–here ‘Archetypes’–of the immune system, to both benefit from a tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and to disengage tumor-targeting. To discover dominant immune system archetypes, the Immunoprofiler Initiative (IPI) processed 364 individual tumors across 12 cancer types using standardized protocols. Computational clustering of flow cytometry and transcriptomic data obtained from cell sub compartments uncovered archetypes that exist across indications. These Immune composition-based archetypes differentiate tumors based upon unique immune and tumor gene-expression patterns. Archetypes discovered this way also tie closely to well-established classifications of tumor biology. The IPI resource provides a template for understanding cancer immunity as a collection of dominant patterns of immune infiltration and provides a rational path forward to learn how to modulate these patterns to improve therapy.

Link to HAL – hal-03407890

Link to DOI – 10.1101/2021.04.26.441344