The Spatial Landscape of Progression and Immunoediting in Primary Melanoma at Single-Cell Resolution

Abstract

Cutaneous melanoma is a highly immunogenic malignancy that is surgically curable at early stages but life-threatening when metastatic. In this webinar, Ajit Johnson Nirmal, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Medical School and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, will discuss the integration of high-plex imaging, 3D high-resolution microscopy, and spatially resolved microregion transcriptomics to study immune evasion and immunoediting in primary melanoma. Guided by classic histopathology, spatial profiling of proteins and mRNA reveals recurrent morphologic and molecular features of tumor evolution that involve localized paracrine cytokine signaling and direct cell-cell contact. Hallmarks of immunosuppression are already detectable in precursor regions. When tumors become locally invasive, a consolidated and spatially restricted suppressive environment forms along the tumor-stromal boundary.