Spatial Omics in High‐Grade Gliomas: Mapping Immune–Tumor Niches for Precision Therapy
TL;DR
A spatially explicit framework is presented that synthesizes spatial transcriptomic and immune‐profiling studies to identify tumor–immune niches and spatial bottlenecks that drive therapeutic failure and recurrence.
Abstract
High‐grade gliomas (HGGs), particularly glioblastoma (GBM), remain among the most lethal human cancers despite decades of molecular profiling and therapeutic innovation. A primary reason for treatment failure is that HGG biology is spatial: malignant cell states, immune suppression, metabolic stress, and therapeutic resistance are organized into distinct anatomical and functional niches. Spatial omics technologies now enable high‐dimensional mapping of gene expression, protein signaling, immune architecture, and metabolic activity within intact tumor tissue. These approaches reveal how proneural and mesenchymal transcriptional states coexist yet localize to distinct regions, alongside hypoxic, invasive, and stem‐enriched niches. Spatial analyses show that key clinical determinants, including O6‐methylguanine‐DNA methyltransferase (MGMT)‐associated temozolomide resistance, radiotherapy tolerance in hypoxic regions, and immunotherapy failure driven by myeloid‐dominated immune exclusion, are influenced not only by molecular programs but also by cellular location. Beyond biological insight, spatial omics is reshaping clinical paradigms by enabling region‐specific patient stratification, early assessment of treatment response, and identification of therapy‐resistant reservoirs that seed recurrence. Prior bulk and single‐cell studies defined HGG cell states and pathways but often treated resistance as tumor‐wide. This review presents a spatially explicit framework that synthesizes spatial transcriptomic and immune‐profiling studies to identify tumor–immune niches and spatial bottlenecks that drive therapeutic failure and recurrence.