Spatial immune profiling of the colorectal tumor microenvironment predicts good outcome in stage II patients.

Cellular subpopulations within the colorectal tumor microenvironment (TME) include CD3 and CD8 lymphocytes, CD68 and CD163 macrophages, and tumor buds (TBs), all of which have known prognostic significance in stage II colorectal cancer. However, the prognostic relevance of their spatial interactions remains unknown. Here, by applying automated image analysis and machine learning approaches, we evaluate the prognostic significance of these cellular subpopulations and their spatial interactions.