Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42625601›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in oncology2026

Immune profiling by bulk RNA-seq and multiplex immunofluorescence imaging across multiple cancer types.

Catia Gaspar, Benson Wu, Simone C Stone, Valentin Sotov, Ben Wang, Collins Wangulu, Hal Berman, Aileigh Kay, Prabhjit Basra, Emily Van de Laar and 15 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

25 authors.

Catia GasparDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Benson WuUniversity Health Network , University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Simone C StonePrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Valentin SotovPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Ben WangPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Collins WanguluPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Hal BermanPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Aileigh KayPrincess Margaret Cancer Consortium, Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Prabhjit BasraPrincess Margaret Cancer Consortium, Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Emily Van de LaarPrincess Margaret Cancer Consortium, Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Scott BratmanDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Stephanie LheureuxDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Jennifer KnoxDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Raymond KimDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Hansen HeDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Geoffrey LiuDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Philippe BedardDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Anna SpreaficoDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Ming TsaoDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Trevor J PughUniversity Health Network , University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Aaron HansenDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Gonzalo SapisochinPrincess Margaret Cancer Consortium, Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Enrique Sanz GarciaDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Lillian L SiuDivision of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Jeffrey P BrucePrincess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Immune cell populations within the tumor microenvironment (TME) critically determine cancer prognosis and therapeutic response. Although multiplexed immunohistochemistry (mIHC) provides spatial immune profiling and bulk RNA sequencing methods offer comprehensive cellular characterization, comparative studies between these complementary methodologies remain limited across diverse tumor types. Methods: Patient samples from various tumor types, obtained from either primary or metastatic sites, were collected. For each patient, two samples were analyzed, one for mIHC and one for RNA-seq (xCell2). Both methodologies were intended to quantify immune cell populations including CD4 and CD8 T cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs), B cells and macrophages within the TME. Samples were stratified by origin according to biopsy procedure and tissue block characteristics. The primary objective was to assess concordance between methodologies for immune cell density estimation, while exploratory analysis evaluated liver-specific TME differences and immunotherapy (IO) exposure in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Method correlations were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Results: Among 298 patient specimens spanning 20 tumor types, overall correlation between mIHC and xCell2 deconvolution was modest ( Conclusions: Our work highlights the value of integrating spatial (mIHC) and transcriptomic (xCell2) approaches to optimize immune profiling accuracy in complex tumor tissues. CD8 T-cell populations showed the strongest methodological concordance, establishing their priority as a robust candidate biomarker for immune activation to be used in further clinical research.

Indexed as

immunotherapymultiplexed IHCpan-cancer analysisRNA sequencingtumor micro environment (TME)

Identifiers

PMID42625601
PMCPMC13489921

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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 Socratic graph.