ArticleJournal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR2023
Spatial analysis of stromal signatures identifies invasive front carcinoma-associated fibroblasts as suppressors of anti-tumor immune response in esophageal cancer.
Article in Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of Chinese medicine injection combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer: a Bayesian network meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- The tumor-microenvironment-associated prognostic gene TIGIT promotes malignant phenotypes in esophageal carcinoma.Translational oncology · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal voxel-wise concordance betweenEuropean journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Digital Pathology and the AI-Based Quantification of the Tumor Microenvironment in Gastrointestinal Cancer: From Tumor Budding and Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes to Tertiary Lymphoid Structures.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Article
- Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy resistance of esophageal carcinoma.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Mechanoresponsive reprogramming of tumor-associated macrophages during cancer progression.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- AI-driven spatial mapping of myxoid stroma and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Esophagus : official journal of the Japan Esophageal Society · 2026Article
- Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy versus immunochemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a propensity-matched analysis of response, survival, lymph node pattern, and immune microenvironment.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Neoadjuvant immunotherapy for lung cancer: current limitations and future prospects.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment: heterogeneity and dynamic interactions in tumor progression revealed by spatial transcriptomics.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2025Review
- Dissecting the Non-Immune Tumor Microenvironment in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Molecular Subtype-Specific Patterns and Prognostic Implications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- SOX2 drives esophageal squamous carcinoma by reprogramming lipid metabolism and histone acetylation landscape.Nature communications · 2025Article
- HAS1Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2025Article
- Interactions between cancer-associated fibroblasts and the extracellular matrix in oesophageal cancer.Matrix biology : journal of the International Society for Matrix Biology · 2025Review
- Association between cancer-associated fibroblasts and prognosis of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a bioinformatics analysis based on single-cell RNA sequencing.Cancer cell international · 2025Article
- Spatial transcriptomic analysis of tumor microenvironment in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with HIV infection.Molecular cancer · 2025Article
- Recent advances in therapeutic use of transforming growth factor-beta inhibitors in cancer and fibrosis.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- Tertiary lymphoid structures correlate with the therapeutic efficacy and prognosis of resectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus immunotherapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Exosome-Derived Cargos in Immune Microenvironment in Esophageal Carcinoma: A Mini-Review.Recent patents on anti-cancer drug discovery · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIncreasing evidence indicates that the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a crucial determinant of cancer progression. However, the clinical and pathobiological significance of stromal signatures in the TME, as a complex dynamic entity, is still unclear in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).
methodsHerein, we used single-cell transcriptome sequencing data, imaging mass cytometry (IMC) and multiplex immunofluorescence staining to characterize the stromal signatures in ESCC and evaluate their prognostic values in this aggressive disease. An automated quantitative pathology imaging system determined the locations of the lamina propria, stroma, and invasive front. Subsequently, IMC spatial analyses further uncovered spatial interaction and distribution. Additionally, bioinformatics analysis was performed to explore the TME remodeling mechanism in ESCC. To define a new molecular prognostic model, we calculated the risk score of each patient based on their TME signatures and pTNM stages.
resultsWe demonstrate that the presence of fibroblasts at the tumor invasive front was associated with the invasive depth and poor prognosis. Furthermore, the amount of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)
conclusionsOur newly defined biomarker signature may serve as a complement for current clinical risk stratification approaches and provide potential therapeutic targets for reversing the fibroblast-mediated immunosuppressive microenvironment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.