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SpaPheno: linking spatial transcriptomics to clinical phenotypes with interpretable machine learning

delete2026-04-13
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OA
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B
Bin Duan *
X
Xiaojie Cheng
H
Hua Zou
DOI:10.1186/s13073-026-01645-7delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Linking spatial transcriptomic data to clinically relevant phenotypes is essential for advancing spatially informed precision oncology. Here, we present SpaPheno, an interpretable machine learning framework that integrates spatial transcriptomics with clinically annotated bulk RNA-seq to identify spatially resolved biomarkers predictive of patient outcomes, including survival, tumor stage, and immunotherapy response. SpaPheno provides multi-scale interpretability from tissue regions to cell types and individual spatial spots, enabling clear biological insights from complex spatial data. We validate SpaPheno through extensive simulations and applications to multiple cancer cohorts—primary liver cancer, clear cell renal cell carcinoma, breast cancer, and melanoma—demonstrating robust predictive performance alongside biologically meaningful spatial patterns. SpaPheno offers a generalizable strategy to translate spatial omics data into clinically actionable knowledge, facilitating precision oncology informed by tumor spatial architecture. SpaPheno is available at https://github.com/Duan-Lab1/SpaPheno.
Keywords:
Spatial transcriptomic
Bulk RNA-seq
Clinical phenotype
Interpretable machine learning
Precision oncology
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Journal

Genome Medicine cover
Genome Medicine
IF:
11.2
Papers:
2.3K
Citations:
1.4W

Organization

S
Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine
Scholars:
22
Papers: 9
Citations: 0
L
life sciences and technology
Scholars:
69
Papers: 26
Citations: 0