Spatial Transcriptomics Reveals a Conserved Border Niche and Etiology-Associated Immune Rewiring in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background and AimsThe tumor-stroma interface in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) harbors critical intercellular interactions that shape immune evasion and treatment response, yet its spatial architecture remains poorly characterized across etiologies. Whether hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related and non-B non-C (NBNC) HCC share conserved border niche features or exhibit etiology-specific microenvironment programs is unknown. We aimed to spatially resolve the tumor boundary ecosystem and identify etiology-associated signaling networks with translational relevance. Approach and ResultsWe performed 10x Visium spatial transcriptomics on 11 HCC specimens (7 HBV, 4 NBNC) and applied a machine-learning pipeline integrating CancerFinder and SpaceFlow to define tumor, boundary, and stromal domains. Across etiologies, the boundary zone showed a recurrent desmoplastic niche characterized by cancer-associated fibroblast, tumor-associated macrophage, and tumor endothelial cell accumulation with collagen-integrin extracellular matrix remodeling, including COL1A1-ITGA11 and COL4A1-ITGAV. Etiology-associated differences were observed in the organization of border-zone signaling programs. In representative HBV-related sections, CCL19-CCR7 signaling showed a comparatively restricted, endothelial-skewed topology, whereas representative NBNC sections showed broader inflammatory ligand-receptor networks with elevated NF-kB-associated pathway activity. ConclusionsThe HCC tumor-stroma border harbors a recurrent desmoplastic niche upon which etiology-associated immune regulatory programs may be superimposed. These findings generate spatial hypotheses relevant to etiology-informed biomarker development and future therapeutic stratification.