Applying Spatial Transcriptomics to the Human Heart: A Practical Guide for Translational Studies.
7 affiliations
- 1Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
- 2Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
- 3Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Brigham and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Brigham and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
- 4Center for Cardiovascular Research, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
- 5Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
- 6Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
- 7Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract
Spatial transcriptomics and single-cell methods are changing the questions we can ask about the human cardiovascular system. In this review, we share lessons learned from applying spatial profiling to human cardiovascular samples. We walk through experimental considerations, sampling, fixation, and ribonucleic acid quality control, then compare sequencing-based and imaging-based platforms within a 2-stage "discovery then validation" framework. We propose a heart-aware analytical pipeline: spatially informed quality control, normalization respecting the outsized transcriptome of cardiomyocytes, thoughtful segmentation, and honest assessment of reproducibility. We consider how spatial data can be woven together with single-cell, epigenomic, and proteomic layers, and look ahead to emerging frontiers including integration with cardiac imaging foundation models. Our hope is that spatially resolved molecular data will reveal new tissue niches to target for precision cardiovascular therapies.
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BibTeX
@article{tao2026applying,
title = {{Applying Spatial Transcriptomics to the Human Heart: A Practical Guide for Translational Studies.}},
author = {Hongyan Tao and James Cranley and Farid Kadyrov and Haewon Shin and Raphaël Blain and Jagdeep Nanchahal and Adrien Hallou and Kaiyue Zhang and Maarten Hulsmans and Andrew Jm Lewis},
journal = {JACC. Basic to translational science},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.jacbts.2026.101730},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42874164},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Applying Spatial Transcriptomics to the Human Heart: A Practical Guide for Translational Studies.
AU - Hongyan Tao
AU - James Cranley
AU - Farid Kadyrov
AU - Haewon Shin
AU - Raphaël Blain
AU - Jagdeep Nanchahal
AU - Adrien Hallou
AU - Kaiyue Zhang
AU - Maarten Hulsmans
AU - Andrew Jm Lewis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
JO - JACC. Basic to translational science
DO - 10.1016/j.jacbts.2026.101730
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42874164
AB - Spatial transcriptomics and single-cell methods are changing the questions we can ask about the human cardiovascular system. In this review, we share lessons learned from applying spatial profiling to human cardiovascular samples. We walk through experimental considerations, sampling, fixation, and ribonucleic acid quality control, then compare sequencing-based and imaging-based platforms within a 2-stage "discovery then validation" framework. We propose a heart-aware analytical pipeline: spatially informed quality control, normalization respecting the outsized transcriptome of cardiomyocytes, thoughtful segmentation, and honest assessment of reproducibility. We consider how spatial data can be woven together with single-cell, epigenomic, and proteomic layers, and look ahead to emerging frontiers including integration with cardiac imaging foundation models. Our hope is that spatially resolved molecular data will reveal new tissue niches to target for precision cardiovascular therapies.
SN - 2452-302X
ER -