A Spatiotemporal Interpretation of Cancer Treatment Response

Experimental research note This manuscript documents an exploratory spatial transcriptomics analysis of immune–stromal coordination patterns in a lung cancer tumor microenvironment dataset. The work represents an early-stage methodological investigation. Concepts, terminology, and variable definitions were still being consolidated at the time of writing, and the analysis should therefore be regarded as a working research manuscript rather than a finalized publication. Using spatial transcriptomic data from a human lung cancer specimen (10x Genomics Visium), the study examines spatial transitions in immune activation (C) and barrier resistance (B) gene programs. A coordination balance proxy is computed and spatial gradients of this proxy are used to detect transition interfaces—regions where coordination states change abruptly across tissue. Applying a stringent Q95 gradient threshold, 193 interface spots were detected among 3,858 spatial locations, corresponding to an interface density of approximately 0.05. These interface regions form 72 connected patches, with a median patch size of one spatial spot and a largest patch size of 24. The results suggest that tumor–immune coordination transitions occur primarily as fragmented spatial micro-regions rather than continuous boundaries. This record is provided as a pilot spatial case study and proof-of-concept demonstration of quantitative interface geometry in tumor tissues. Version note: v4.5 – Lung cancer spatial interface analysis.