Bioinformatics Seminar
Time:
Venue: Na
30 July 2019
NaPre-spatial transcriptomics: integrating multiplex immunohistochemistry (OPAL) with gene expression to study the immune microenvironment of prostate cancer
Anna TrigosPeterMac
Multiplex immunohistochemistry (OPAL) is a novel microscopy technique that allows simultaneously identifying multiple cell types in an image ; while providing the X ;Y coordinates of cells. This allows not only quantification of cell populations ; but also interrogating cell-cell interactions ; distances between cells and identifying tissue structures composed of multiple cell types. In this project we aim to characterize the immune microenvironment of prostate cancer combining data from OPAL images with Nanostring gene expression data. Although prostate cancer is generally considered 'immunologically cold' ; our unique cohort is enriched for patients with germline DNA repair defects (mutations in BRCA genes) which we hypothesize would have higher levels of immune infiltration. In this talk I will present an overview of the approaches I have employed to analyze this spatial data ; discuss the heterogeneity of immune infiltration patterns ; and present evidence of how the spatial location of immune cells provides a novel prognostic marker for prostate cancer patients.;