(^38) Feature
ALL EYES ON PRECISION MEDICINE
Bernd Bodenmiller and his colleagues at the University of Zurich explain how highly
multiplexed imaging can facilitate precision medicine – from diagnosis to treatment.
Exploring diseased tissue
Imaging mass cytometry can visualize the different immune cell populations that infiltrate pancreatic islets and attack insulin-
producing beta cells in type 1 diabetes (Left), while simultaneously profiling pancreatic endocrine and exocrine cells (Right). This deep
phenotyping reveals new insights into the interactions between immune and beta cells during disease progression (1). Credit: Nicolas Damond
Synaptophysin
(pancreatic islets)
CD8 (cytotoxic T)
CD4 (helper T)
Myeloperoxidase
(neut rophils)
CD68 (macrophages)
CD 45R A (naïve)
CD31 (blood vessels)
Insulin (β cells)
Pdx1 (transcr. factor)
Glucagon (α cells)
Ki-67 (cycling cells)
Somatostatin (δ cells)
Pancreatic
polypeptide (γ cells)
E-cadherin
(epithelial cells)
Identifying relevant features
Once the tissue has been analyzed, it’s time to identify the
features that are relevant to the disease in question. Here,
imaging mass cytometry data from breast cancer tissue (a,b)
has been segmented, defining the area that corresponds to
individual cells (c). Then, the antibody signals are quantified
and the spatial features of the cell are identified, including
their shape and arrangement. The resulting information can
be visualized as a heat map on the original image (d) or in a
variety of single cell plots (e). Credit: Hartland Jackson
a) b) c)
d) e)
nextflipdebug5
(nextflipdebug5)
#1