Mixed Effects Machine Learning Models for Colon Cancer Metastasis Prediction using Spatially Localized Immuno-Oncology Markers

Spatially resolved characterization of the transcriptome and proteome promises to provide further clarity on cancer pathogenesis and etiology, which may inform future clinical practice through classifier development for clinical outcomes. However, batch effects may potentially obscure the ability of machine learning methods to derive complex associations within spatial omics data. Profiling thirty-five stage three colon cancer patients using the GeoMX Digital Spatial Profiler, we found that mixed-effects machine learning (MEML) methods may provide utility for overcoming significant batch effects to communicate key and complex disease associations from spatial information. These results point to further exploration and application of MEML methods within the algorithm development life cycle for clinical deployment.