Abstract
Multiplex immunofluorescence (mIF) imaging technology facilitates the study
of the tumour microenvironment in cancer patients. Due to the capabilities of
this emerging bioimaging technique, it is possible to statistically analyse,
for example, the co-varying location and functions of multiple different types
of immune cells. Complex spatial relationships between different immune cells
have been shown to correlate with patient outcomes and may reveal new pathways
for targeted immunotherapy treatments.
This tutorial reviews methods and procedures relating to spatial point
patterns for complex data analysis. We consider tissue cells as a realisation
of a spatial point process for each patient. We focus on proper functional
descriptors for each observation and techniques that allow us to obtain
information about inter-patient variation.
Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynaecological malignancy and can resist
chemotherapy treatment effective in cancers. We use a dataset of high-grade
serous ovarian cancer samples from 51 patients. We examine the immune cell
composition (T cells, B cells, macrophages) within tumours and additional
information such as cell classification (tumour or stroma) and other patient
clinical characteristics. Our analyses, supported by reproducible software,
apply to other digital pathology datasets.
Citation
ID:
281598
Ref Key:
moraga2023analysing