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Quantitative image analysis for CD 8 score in lung small biopsies and cytology cell‐blocks
Author(s) -
Monaco Sara E.,
Dacic Sanja,
Seigh Lindsey,
Hartman Douglas J.,
Xing Juan,
Pantanowitz Liron
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1365-2303
pISSN - 0956-5507
DOI - 10.1111/cyt.12812
Subject(s) - medicine , concordance , lung cancer , cytology , biopsy , immunohistochemistry , pathology
Immunotherapy has shown promising results in non‐small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC ), for which tumour‐infiltrating cytotoxic ( CD 8+) T cells play a critical role. We investigated the utility of image analysis ( IA ) to quantify CD 8+ T cells in a series of matched small biopsies and resections of NSCLC . Methods CD 8 immunohistochemistry was performed on cell‐blocks ( CB ), core needle biopsies ( CNB ) and corresponding resections from primary NSCLC s. Slides were digitised using an Aperio AT 2 scanner (Leica) and annotated by whole slide image ( WSI ) or fields of view occupied by tissue spots ( TS ). Quantitative IA was performed with a customised Aperio algorithm (Leica). CD 8 scores (number of T cells with 1‐3+ staining/total area) were then compared. Results Forty‐four cases with CB or CNB material and a corresponding resection were analysed. Average CD 8 score was determined in CB (7.67 WSI , 77.67 TS ) and/or CNB (47.35 WSI , 325.67 TS ), and corresponding resections (190.35 WSI , 336.58 TS ). CD 8 score concordance was highest (78.6%) for CNB s using WSI annotation. Overall, small biopsies ( CB or CNB ) correlated with the resection in 71.4% cases using WSI and 63.3% cases using TS annotation. IA performed better for low CD 8 scores. Conclusions These findings show that CD 8 density in NSCLC can be quantified by IA in small biopsies and cell blocks, achieving the best concordance using WSI scores. Discrepancies were attributed to values near the cut‐off and background detection of staining. These data warrant future studies with more cases and follow‐up data to further investigate the clinical utility of IA for CD 8 analysis in NSCLC .