Flagship showcases further advances in cell-based analysis of immunohistochemistry and tumor heterogeneity profiling.
6 APRIL 2013 – Washington, D.C. – Flagship Biosciences presented two posters at the American Association of Cancer Research meeting related to their novel approaches in evaluating tumor profiles.
Image analysis algorithms for whole-slide counting, regional assignment, and subtype classification of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs)
In collaboration with the University of Utah, School of Medicine (Mohamed Salama), using tissue sections from human breast cancer as a model, Flagship Biosciences has developed image analysis algorithms for the rapid automated counting and compartmental assignment of TAMs (CD68+) and TAMs of the more strongly tumor-promoting M2 subtype (CD163+). These approaches represent a powerful toolkit for elucidating significant quantitative associations between TAMs and tumor vasculature, hypoxia, or other relevant features or markers for the determination of prognostic or drug efficacy endpoints.
Tissue image analysis tool to quantify HER2 RNA and protein expression by colorimetric in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry for breast cancer diagnosis
Changes in oncogene and proto-oncogene expression are a hallmark of cancer. For this reason, simultaneous quantification of mRNA and protein expression using RNA CISH and IHC combined with image analysis is of interest. Flagship Biosciences has combined RNA CISH and IHC with image analysis to develop a reliable, quantitative HER2 assay that enables quantification of HER2 mRNA and protein expression in human breast cancer in collaboration with Affymetrix/Panomics (Quan Nguyen, Botoul Maqsodi, Takuro Yaoi, Gary McMaster, Santa Clara, CA). HER2 mRNA and protein expression were analyzed, quantified, and compared both at the tissue and individual cell levels using proprietary image analysis tools. Moreover, we compared heterogeneity of RNA and protein expression and further extended our studies to several other cancer-related genes. Successful quantification of oncogene in situ expression in human cancer tissues may prove to be beneficial in further understanding cancer pathology, for drug screening and for the development of biomarkers and ultimately diagnostic tests.
