Spatial landscape of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma using multiplexed imaging and AI based analysis

Pancreatic tumors are highly heterogeneous, often with more aggressive regions that are responsible for invasion and metastasis. These aggressive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (PDAC) undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition and create subregions in the tumor that evade treatments and provide a critical support niche for continued tumor growth and metastasis. In this scientific poster, Leica Microsystems presents a study in which biomarkers are utilized to probe tumor heterogeneity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The spatial biology solution Cell DIVE^™ and proprietary Spatial AI analytics software enabled the use of dozens of biomarkers to computationally reduce tumor heterogeneity and to spatially define cells in the microenvironment with hypoxic and normoxic regions of PDAC and in normal pancreas.