Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Sep 15, 2026; 18(9): 121446
Published online Sep 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.121446
Published online Sep 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.121446
Spatial transcriptomics reveals tumor niche heterogeneity in advanced gastric cancer and suggests a tumor-promoting role for KRT6B
Rui Ni, Xue-Chen Ren, You-Cheng Zhang, Laboratory of Hepatic-Biliary-Pancreatic, Department of General Surgery, Second Hospital and Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, Gansu Province, China
Hui Dong, Institute of Medical Sciences, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Rui-Dong Han, Lei Wang, Shen-Si Chen, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Yu-Ling Qu, Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Co-first authors: Rui Ni and Hui Dong.
Co-corresponding authors: Shen-Si Chen and You-Cheng Zhang.
Author contributions: Ni R drafted the manuscript and acquired funding; Ni R and Dong H designed the study methodology as co-first authors; Dong H contributed to methodology development and data curation; Han RD, Qu YL, and Wang L performed validation; Ren XC conducted software analysis and data curation; Chen SS administered the project, supervised the research, and acquired funding; Chen SS and Zhang YC conceived the study as co-corresponding authors; Zhang YC reviewed and revised the manuscript, supervised the research, and administered the project; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation project of Ningxia, No. 2023AAC03680; and Ningxia Medical University Research Project, No. XM2020166.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Scientific Research Ethics Committee of the General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University (approval No. KYLL-2022-0710).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
Data sharing statement: The raw sequence data reported in this paper have been deposited in the Genome Sequence Archive for Human in the National Genomics Data Center, China National Center for Bioinformation/Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under accession number HRA013687, and are publicly accessible at https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/gsa-human.
Corresponding author: You-Cheng Zhang, MD, PhD, Professor, Laboratory of Hepatic-Biliary-Pancreatic, Department of General Surgery, Second Hospital and Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, No. 82 Cuiying Gate, Chengguan District, Lanzhou 730030, Gansu Province, China. zhangychmd@126.com
Received: March 26, 2026
Revised: April 17, 2026
Accepted: June 2, 2026
Published online: September 15, 2026
Processing time: 154 Days and 5.9 Hours
Revised: April 17, 2026
Accepted: June 2, 2026
Published online: September 15, 2026
Processing time: 154 Days and 5.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: The spatial organization of advanced gastric cancer remains insufficiently characterized. Using full-thickness Stereo-seq profiling, this study identified a superficial-to-deep tumor niche axis, niche-specific transcriptional gradients, and a spatially isolated tumor nest with preferential enrichment for KRT6B. External validation and in vitro assays further supported KRT6B as a candidate molecule associated with aggressive tumor phenotypes. Although the study was based on a limited number of samples, these findings provide an initial spatial framework for investigating intratumoral heterogeneity in advanced gastric cancer.