title: Digital pathology and image analysis in tissue biomarker research.
abstract: Digital pathology and the adoption of image analysis have grown rapidly in the last few years. This is largely due to the implementation of whole slide scanning, advances in software and computer processing capacity and the increasing importance of tissue-based research for biomarker discovery and stratified medicine. This review sets out the key application areas for digital pathology and image analysis, with a particular focus on research and biomarker discovery. A variety of image analysis applications are reviewed including nuclear morphometry and tissue architecture analysis, but with emphasis on immunohistochemistry and fluorescence analysis of tissue biomarkers. Digital pathology and image analysis have important roles across the drug/companion diagnostic development pipeline including biobanking, molecular pathology, tissue microarray analysis, molecular profiling of tissue and these important developments are reviewed. Underpinning all of these important developments is the need for high quality tissue samples and the impact of pre-analytical variables on tissue research is discussed. This requirement is combined with practical advice on setting up and running a digital pathology laboratory. Finally, we discuss the need to integrate digital image analysis data with epidemiological, clinical and genomic data in order to fully understand the relationship between genotype and phenotype and to drive discovery and the delivery of personalized medicine.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Electronic address: p.hamilton@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bankhead
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Yinhai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Declan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kieran
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Darragh G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: McArt
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: James
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salto-Tellez
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000737:chemistry*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D010641:Phenotype; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D012984:Software; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D004247:DNA
keywords: Biobank; Biomarker; Digital pathology; Drug discovery; Molecular pathology; Personalized medicine; Tissue microarrays; Tumour analysis