In Silico Cell-Type Deconvolution Methods in Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Several computational methods have been proposed to infer the cellular composition from bulk RNA-seq data of a tumor biopsy sample. Elucidating interactions in the tumor microenvironment can yield unique insights into the status of the immune system. In immuno-oncology, this information can be crucial for deciding whether the immune system of a patient can be stimulated to target the tumor. Here, we shed a light on the working principles, capabilities, and limitations of the most commonly used methods for cell-type deconvolution in immuno-oncology and offer guidelines for method selection.

Keywords: Cell-type deconvolution; Gene signatures; Immuno-oncology; Spillover.