About this Research Topic
Gastrointestinal cancers (GIC), including esophageal cancer (OC), gastric cancer (GC), colorectal cancer (CRC), pancreatic cancer (PC), hepatocellular cancer (HCC), and biliary tract cancers (BTC), are the most common cancers worldwide. Immunotherapy has recently been incorporated into the treatment of gastrointestinal malignant tumors, but the response rate is much lower than that of melanoma, lung cancer, etc. The tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) is a complex ecotype composed of tumor cells, immune cells, cytokines, etc. The interaction between these components exerts anti-tumor and pro-tumor functions and determines the effect of anti-tumor immunity. The TIME phenotypes, including inflamed, excluded, and desert phenotypes, display distinguish spatial distributions of immune cells and are highly correlated with immunotherapy efficacy. The mechanisms that generate different TIME phenotypes and how to enhance immune efficacy by changing TIME phenotypes are unknown. Revolutionary advances in spatially resolved molecular profiling and analysis methods have enabled high-resolution characterization of structurally complex TIME, including cellular composition, location, and interaction. Additionally, the integration of spatial information with other data modalities enhances the interpretation of cell-to-cell crosstalk and immune spatial characteristics and is superior to pathology or single-cell data alone in predicting patient outcomes. Thus, elucidating TIME through spatial omics will be able to reveal the roles of immunity in tumor development and treatment, contributing to the development of new treatment strategies.
The goal of this research topic is to provide a forum to promote research on the impact of the tumor immune microenvironment on tumor development and immunotherapy of gastrointestinal cancers through spatial omics-related methods and to identify immune-related targets from the spatial perspective to develop new treatment strategies to enhance immunotherapy efficacy.
In Research Topic, we encourage the submission of Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Hypothesis and Theory, and Perspective articles covering the tumor immune microenvironment of gastrointestinal cancers at the spatial level, but are not limited to the following topics:
(1) The spatial landscape of tumor immune microenvironment.
(2) Analysis of TIME classification based on artificial intelligence and other methods
(3) The association of spatial immune features and immunotherapy.
(4) Innovative strategies and new therapies that target immune cells or structures at specific spatial locations to improve anti-cancer therapeutic responses.
(5) New technologies or bioinformatics approaches to stimulate studies in tumor immune microenvironment at spatial levels.
The goal of this research topic is to provide a forum to promote research on the impact of the tumor immune microenvironment on tumor development and immunotherapy of gastrointestinal cancers through spatial omics-related methods and to identify immune-related targets from the spatial perspective to develop new treatment strategies to enhance immunotherapy efficacy.
In Research Topic, we encourage the submission of Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Hypothesis and Theory, and Perspective articles covering the tumor immune microenvironment of gastrointestinal cancers at the spatial level, but are not limited to the following topics:
(1) The spatial landscape of tumor immune microenvironment.
(2) Analysis of TIME classification based on artificial intelligence and other methods
(3) The association of spatial immune features and immunotherapy.
(4) Innovative strategies and new therapies that target immune cells or structures at specific spatial locations to improve anti-cancer therapeutic responses.
(5) New technologies or bioinformatics approaches to stimulate studies in tumor immune microenvironment at spatial levels.
Keywords: gastrointestinal cancer
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
