QUANTITATIVE IN SITU CHARACTERIZATION OF HETEROGENEITY IN BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES

摘要

The present disclosure relates to characterization of biological samples. By way of example, a biological sample may be contacted with a plurality of probes specific for targets in the sample, such as probes for immune markers and segmenting probes. Acquired image data of the sample may be used to segment the images into epithelial and stromal regions to characterize individual cells in the sample based on the binding of the probes. Further, the biological sample may be characterized by a heterogeneity of the characterized cells.

主权项

1. A method for determining heterogeneity of cell populations in a biological sample comprising:
receiving image data of a biological sample comprising a plurality of cells, wherein the image data is representative of expression of a plurality of biomarkers; segmenting the plurality of cells into individual cells in the biological sample based on the image data; quantitating cell features of the individual cells in the biological sample based on the image data; generating a plurality of cell types for the individual cells, wherein each respective cell type is based on a set of cell characteristics, wherein the cell characteristics comprise a common set of biomarker expression levels, cell features, or a combination thereof; assigning the individual cells to only one of the generated cell types; determining a molecular heterogeneity value of the biological sample based on the assigning; determining a spatial heterogeneity value of the biological sample based at least on one individual cell assigned to an individual cell type and a physical distance to other cells of the same cell type or cell type heterogeneity within a predetermined physical distance of the at least one individual cell; and determining a heterogeneity metric based on the molecular heterogeneity value and the spatial heterogeneity value.