Computerized methods for tissue analysis
A computerized method for immunohistochemistry analysis of tissue utilizes digital images of multiple adjacent tissue sections aligned within a computerized software and processed with an algorithm to quantify a two-dimensional IHC signature score for each respective slide image. In various embodiments, the IHC score is performed over several adjacent sections and further processed to produce a three-dimensional IHC quantification referred to as an IHC signature map.
1. A computerized method for digital analysis of tissue objects, comprising:
providing three or more adjacent tissue sections, at least one of said adjacent tissue sections being stained with a biomarker;
acquiring a first digital image of a first adjacent tissue section, a second digital image of a second adjacent tissue section, and a third digital image of a third adjacent tissue section;
using a computerized software, aligning the first and third digital images with the second digital image such that the first through third digital images are two-dimensionally aligned within said computerized software;
overlaying a first digital grid about the first digital image, the first digital grid comprising a plurality of first grid squares;
on the first digital image, assigning a first IHC (immunohistochemistry) score to each of the plurality of first grid squares within the first digital grid, and summating the first grid squares to generate a first IHC signature score;
overlaying a second digital grid about the second digital image, the second digital grid comprising a plurality of second grid squares;
on the second digital image, assigning a second IHC score to each of the plurality of second grid squares within the second digital grid, and summating the second grid squares to generate a second IHC signature score;
overlaying a third digital grid about the third digital image, the third digital grid comprising a plurality of third grid squares;
on the third digital image, assigning a third IHC score to each of the plurality of third grid squares within the third digital grid, and summating the third grid squares to generate a third IHC signature score; and
summating the first through third IHC signature scores to generate a numerical representation of a three-dimensional IHC score.
2. A computerized method for digital analysis of tissue objects, comprising:
with three or more adjacent tissue sections, obtaining at least a first digital image, a second digital image, and a third digital image of said adjacent tissue sections, respectively, using a microscope adapted for digital imaging of slides;
using a computerized software, digitally aligning said first, second, and third digital images with respect to one another;
overlaying a virtual grid over each of said first through third digital images, said virtual grid comprising a plurality of grid squares;
assigning an IHC (immunohistochemistry) score with respect to a pixilated area within each of the grid squares over the first digital image, and repeating for each of said second and third digital images to obtain respective IHC scores thereon;
for each of the first through third digital images, summating each IHC score of the respective grid squares to obtain a two-dimensional IHC signature score for each slide.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
summating each of the IHC signature scores of the first through third digital images to obtain a three-dimensional IHC signature map of the tissue.