Completing Spatial Transcriptomics Data for Gene Expression Prediction Benchmarking

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ruiz, Daniela, Cárdenas, Paula, Manrique, Leonardo, Vega, Daniela, Mejia, Gabriel M., Arbeláez, Pablo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ruiz, Daniela
Cárdenas, Paula
Manrique, Leonardo
Vega, Daniela
Mejia, Gabriel M.
Arbeláez, Pablo
author_facet Ruiz, Daniela
Cárdenas, Paula
Manrique, Leonardo
Vega, Daniela
Mejia, Gabriel M.
Arbeláez, Pablo
contents Spatial Transcriptomics is a groundbreaking technology that integrates histology images with spatially resolved gene expression profiles. Among the various Spatial Transcriptomics techniques available, Visium has emerged as the most widely adopted. However, its accessibility is limited by high costs, the need for specialized expertise, and slow clinical integration. Additionally, gene capture inefficiencies lead to significant dropout, corrupting acquired data. To address these challenges, the deep learning community has explored the gene expression prediction task directly from histology images. Yet, inconsistencies in datasets, preprocessing, and training protocols hinder fair comparisons between models. To bridge this gap, we introduce SpaRED, a systematically curated database comprising 26 public datasets, providing a standardized resource for model evaluation. We further propose SpaCKLE, a state-of-the-art transformer-based gene expression completion model that reduces mean squared error by over 82.5% compared to existing approaches. Finally, we establish the SpaRED benchmark, evaluating eight state-of-the-art prediction models on both raw and SpaCKLE-completed data, demonstrating SpaCKLE substantially improves the results across all the gene expression prediction models. Altogether, our contributions constitute the most comprehensive benchmark of gene expression prediction from histology images to date and a stepping stone for future research on Spatial Transcriptomics.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_02980
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Completing Spatial Transcriptomics Data for Gene Expression Prediction Benchmarking
Ruiz, Daniela
Cárdenas, Paula
Manrique, Leonardo
Vega, Daniela
Mejia, Gabriel M.
Arbeláez, Pablo
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Spatial Transcriptomics is a groundbreaking technology that integrates histology images with spatially resolved gene expression profiles. Among the various Spatial Transcriptomics techniques available, Visium has emerged as the most widely adopted. However, its accessibility is limited by high costs, the need for specialized expertise, and slow clinical integration. Additionally, gene capture inefficiencies lead to significant dropout, corrupting acquired data. To address these challenges, the deep learning community has explored the gene expression prediction task directly from histology images. Yet, inconsistencies in datasets, preprocessing, and training protocols hinder fair comparisons between models. To bridge this gap, we introduce SpaRED, a systematically curated database comprising 26 public datasets, providing a standardized resource for model evaluation. We further propose SpaCKLE, a state-of-the-art transformer-based gene expression completion model that reduces mean squared error by over 82.5% compared to existing approaches. Finally, we establish the SpaRED benchmark, evaluating eight state-of-the-art prediction models on both raw and SpaCKLE-completed data, demonstrating SpaCKLE substantially improves the results across all the gene expression prediction models. Altogether, our contributions constitute the most comprehensive benchmark of gene expression prediction from histology images to date and a stepping stone for future research on Spatial Transcriptomics.
title Completing Spatial Transcriptomics Data for Gene Expression Prediction Benchmarking
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.02980