Process and system for analyzing the expression of biomarkers in cells

1. A process comprising:

a. creating a dataset comprising a plurality of data points, each data point representing the biomarker expression profile for individual cells of a cellular sample;

b. interrogating said dataset for data points having a similar pattern of expression of said biomarkers using a computer algorithm wherein such similarity is determined by a numerical analysis that uses the level of expression of each biomarker as at least a semi-continuous variable;

c. identifying the two or more data points with minimum variance;

d. grouping the data points having the minimum variance together to create a group of cells whose members have a similar biomarker expression profile and assigning said group a new biomarker expression profile represented by a new data point in a new dataset, wherein said new data point is based on a central value for each attribute considered by said algorithm; and

e. repeating steps b, c, and d until a predetermined number of groups is generated.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein a step in creating a dataset is a quality control step in which the data point representing certain cells is eliminated from said data set.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the numerical analysis comprises calculating Euclidean distance in biomarker space.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the similarity values further comprises data related to cell morphology, cellular location within a tissue sample or cluster of cells, interrelationship between the levels of expression for two or more biomarkers within a cell, or a combination thereof.

5. The process of claim 1 wherein the group biomarker expression profile is the average value of biomarker expression for each cell in the group.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the spatial distance between each cell and group is calculated and used as a factor in assign cells to a group, such that cells are assigned to the closest group within a given range of similarity values.

7. The process of claim 1 further comprising a supervised grouping of cells.

8. The process of claim 7 wherein the supervised grouping of cells comprises preselecting one or more biomarker expressions for grouping, statistical analysis, comparative analysis, or a combination thereof.

9. The process of claim 8 wherein statistical analysis is used to eliminate cells from the dataset to create a sub-population of cells for analysis.

10. The process of claim 9 wherein the analysis of the sub-population is used to determine single or multiple indices of biomarker expression.

11. The process of claim 1 wherein one or more groups are further analyzed to identify a biological process, condition, state or combination thereof.

12. A process for displaying cells within a cellular sample comprising:

a. acquiring a digital image of the cellular sample using multiplex sequential staining to identify biomarkers within individual cells;

b. creating a dataset comprising a plurality of data points, each data point representing the biomarker expression profile for individual cells of a cellular sample;

c. interrogating said dataset for data points having a similar pattern of expression of said biomarkers using a computer algorithm wherein such similarity is determined by a numerical analysis that uses the level of expression of each biomarker as at least a semi-continuous variable;

d. identifying the two or more data points with minimum variance;

e. grouping the data points having the minimum variance together to create a group of cells whose members have a similar biomarker expression profile and assigning said group a new biomarker expression profile represented by a new data point in a new dataset, wherein said new data point is based on a central value for each attribute considered by said algorithm;

f. repeating steps c, d, and e until a predetermined number of groups is generated; and

g. creating an image of one of one or more groups wherein the image is registered to the digital image of the cellular sample and by which each cell in a group is given a visible designation that they belong to the same group.

13. The process of claim 12 wherein the image displays the groups individually or sequentially overlaid on the digital image.

14. The process of claim 12 wherein the visible designation is a color, symbol, or combination thereof.

15. An image analysis system for displaying cells within a cellular sample comprising:

an imaging device adapted to capture the a digital image of the cellular sample using multiplex sequential staining to identify biomarkers within individual cells;

a processing device adapted to perform the steps of;

a. creating a dataset comprising a plurality of data points, each data point representing the biomarker expression profile for individual cells of a cellular sample;

b. interrogating said dataset for data points having a similar pattern of expression of said biomarkers using a computer algorithm wherein such similarity is determined by a numerical analysis that uses the level of expression of each biomarker as at least a semi-continuous variable;

c. identifying the two or more data points with minimum variance;

d. grouping the data points having the minimum variance together to create a group of cells whose members have a similar biomarker expression profile and assigning said group a new biomarker expression profile represented by a new data point in a new dataset, wherein said new data point is based on a central value for each attribute considered by said algorithm;

e. repeating steps b, c, and d until a predetermined number of groups is generated; and

f. displaying an image of one of one or more of said groups wherein the image is registered to the digital image of cell sample and by which each cell in a group is given a visible designation that they belong to the same group.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the processing device is further configured to analyzing the groups to identify a biological process, condition, state or combination thereof.