Lung Cancer’s Origins Traced to Proinflammatory Microenvironments

Lung cancer remains the world’s deadliest malignancy, largely because most tumors are discovered only after they have spread. For years, scientists have sought molecular clues that precede tumor formation, hoping to uncover a window for early intervention. In a new study, published in Cancer Cell , MD Anderson researchers combined spatial transcriptomics with molecular pathology to visualize how lung cells transition from healthy to precancerous to malignant.

By integrating data from 56 human precursor and advanced tumor samples across 25 patients and validating their results in an additional 36 lesions from 19 patients, the team built a cellular atlas containing more than five million cells. The resulting maps capture the architecture of early lesions with unprecedented clarity, show