title: Manual evaluation of tissue microarrays in a high-throughput research project: The contribution of Indian surgical pathology to the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) project.
abstract: The Human Protein Atlas (HPA) program (www.proteinatlas.org) is an international program that has been set up to allow for a systematic exploration of the human proteome using antibody-based proteomics. This is accomplished by combining high-throughput generation of affinity-purified (mono-specific) antibodies with protein profiling in a multitude of tissues/cell types assembled in tissue microarrays. Twenty-six surgical pathologists over a seven-and-half year period have annotated and curated approximately sixteen million tissue images derived from immunostaining of normal and cancer tissues by approximately 23 000 antibodies. Web-based annotation software that allows for a basic and rapid evaluation of immunoreactivity in tissues has been utilized. Intensity, fraction of immunoreactive cells and subcellular localization were recorded for each given cell population. A text comment summarizing the characteristics for each antibody was added. The methods used and the challenges encountered for this exercise, the largest effort ever by a single group of surgical pathologists, are discussed. Manual annotation of digital images is an important tool that may be successfully utilized in high-throughput research projects. This is the first time an Indian private pathology laboratory has been associated with cutting-edge research internationally providing a classic example of developed and emerging nation collaboration.
authors.affiliation: Lab Surgpath, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Navani
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D007194:India; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000379:methods*; D020543:Proteome / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D020543:Proteome
keywords: Digital pathology; Human Protein Atlas; Immunohistochemistry; India; Protein arrays; Tissue microarray