Ovarian cancer is a lethal malignancy, with most patients initially responding to chemotherapy but frequently experiencing recurrence. Previous studies primarily examined tumor characteristics using limited genetic markers or bulk RNA sequencing. Here, we used spatial transcriptomics via the GeoMx® platform, alongside multispectral immune cell immunofluorescence (IF), to identify biomarkers associated with disease progression following first-line treatment of high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC). We identified several spatial biomarkers linked to non-recurrence, including elevated NKG7 expression in CD45+ immune cell regions (p = 0.0011) and higher TFPI2 and PIGR expression in tumor areas (p = 2.09 × 10−6), both associated with improved progression-free survival. Multispectral IF revealed significantly higher regulatory T cell (Treg) to CD8+ T cell ratios in the tumor nests and stroma of recurrent patients (p = 0.016, 0.048). Tregs were also found closer to cancer cells or macrophages than CD8+ T cells in recurrent tumors (p = 0.048), correlating with poor survival. Integrated analysis showed that immune cell density and immune pathway scores in the recurrent group positively correlated with cancer pathway scores, except for NF-κB. This comprehensive analysis revealed clues to interactions between different immune cells and identified biomarkers that may be useful for predicting recurrence of HGSC.
The risk of chromosomal abnormalities in the child increases with increasing maternal age. Although non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is a safe and effective prenatal screening method, the accuracy of the test results needs to be improved owing to various testing conditions. We attempted to achieve a more accurate and robust prediction of chromosomal abnormalities by combining multiple methods. Here, three different methods, namely standard Z-score, normalized chromosome value, and within-sample reference bin, were used for 1698 reference and 109 test samples of whole-genome sequencing. The logistic regression model combining the three methods achieved a higher accuracy than any single method. In conclusion, the proposed method offers a promising approach for increasing the reliability of NIPT.