Pan-cancer single-cell and spatial transcriptomics analyses delineate response-associated heterogeneity and therapeutic targets of tumor-infiltrating B cells following immune checkpoint blockade

Description

Jialing Fang and co-authors assembled a pan cancer atlas of the B cells living inside tumors, linking their subtypes to whether immune checkpoint therapy works. B cells were long background players beside T cells in immunotherapy research. In their 2026 analysis, 688 single cell datasets spanning twenty four cancer types and 241,645 cells were integrated. B cell subsets were classified and mapped spatially, and their abundance patterns were tested against checkpoint blockade response and survival across cancers.

Twenty four B cell subsets emerged, organizing into five tumor microenvironment types built from their proportions. Two types, dominated by plasma cells and by memory B cells, showed suppressed cell death, stronger antigen presentation, and enrichment among treatment responders, tracking with better survival in several cancers. Development trajectories split at the memory B cell stage into two conserved paths with opposite response associations. Responder associated subsets also physically clustered together inside tumors.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13461987