Signature maps for automatic identification of prostate cancer from colorimetric analysis of H&E- and IHC-stained histopathological specimens

Sci Rep. 2019 May 6;9(1):6992. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43486-y.

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major cause of cancer death among men. The histopathological examination of post-surgical prostate specimens and manual annotation of PCa not only allow for detailed assessment of disease characteristics and extent, but also supply the ground truth for developing of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems for PCa detection before definitive treatment. As manual cancer annotation is tedious and subjective, there have been a number of publications describing methods for automating the procedure via the analysis of digitized whole-slide images (WSIs). However, these studies have focused only on the analysis of WSIs stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), even though there is additional information that could be obtained from immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. In this work, we propose a framework for automating the annotation of PCa that is based on automated colorimetric analysis of both H&E and IHC WSIs stained with a triple-antibody cocktail against high-molecular weight cytokeratin (HMWCK), p63, and α-methylacyl CoA racemase (AMACR). The analysis outputs were then used to train a regression model to estimate the distribution of cancerous epithelium within slides. The approach yielded an AUC of 0.951, sensitivity of 87.1%, and specificity of 90.7% as compared to slide-level annotations, and generalized well to cancers of all grades.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma / diagnosis*
  • Adenocarcinoma / genetics
  • Adenocarcinoma / metabolism
  • Adenocarcinoma / pathology
  • Area Under Curve
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism
  • Biopsy, Needle
  • Cohort Studies
  • Colorimetry / methods
  • Colorimetry / statistics & numerical data*
  • Eosine Yellowish-(YS)
  • Hematoxylin
  • Humans
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
  • Immunohistochemistry / methods
  • Immunohistochemistry / statistics & numerical data*
  • Keratins / genetics
  • Keratins / metabolism
  • Male
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Prostate / metabolism
  • Prostate / pathology
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / genetics
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • Racemases and Epimerases / genetics
  • Racemases and Epimerases / metabolism
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • TP63 protein, human
  • Transcription Factors
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • Keratins
  • Racemases and Epimerases
  • alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase
  • Eosine Yellowish-(YS)
  • Hematoxylin