Image Cytometry

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JUN

June 29, 2022

Understanding the Tumor Immune Microenvironment

Biomedicine relies heavily on understanding the immune system on a microscopic level. Specifically, regarding cancer treatments, the investigation into the tumor immune microenvironment is paramount in developing effective new treatment strategies for the debilitating disease. The tumor immune microenvironment includes a diverse array of tumor infiltrating immune cells, and understanding the underlying processes can provide insight into the progress of cancer cells and immune mechanisms that may be compromised when a patient has cancer. This blog post will summarize why understanding the tumor immune microenvironment is vital to research and health as well as review some advanced solutions to enable scientific progress in this field.

The Need for Tumor Immune Microenvironment Research
In recent years novel immune checkpoint markers such as PD-1, PDL1, CTLA-4 were detected to be effective targets for anti-cancer therapy. The positive impact of antibodies targeting those molecules was shown for several cancer types including lung cancer, colon cancer and melanoma. But not all patients benefit from immune checkpoint therapies. Therefore, approaches such as uncovering mechanisms, immune cell types, interactions, dynamics etc. within the tumor immune microenvironment could help predict how effective a therapy is for any given patient.

Furthermore, research into the tumor immune microenvironment could help biomedical scientists identify novel significant immune-related biomarkers, such as immune checkpoints, that could serve as potential therapeutic targets in the future and or as predictors of therapeutic success.

To conduct tumor immune microenvironment research efficiently and successfully, innovative technologies specializing in image cytometry are important to consider. The following section of this blog will highlight two specific examples of solutions by TissueGnostics that are helping scientists further understand the complex tumor immune microenvironment.

Studying the Tumor Immune Microenvironment with TissueGnostics
As a leader in high content tissue analysis and spatial biology, TissueGnostics provides high-performing solutions, such as StrataQuest , to meet tumor immune microenvironment research objectives. This product can detect tumors on morphological strains without requiring the staining of specific structures. Furthermore, specific immune cells can be identified in the tumor area when imaging, which enables scientists to more easily collect data and perform a visual analysis of the tumor immune microenvironment.

TissueGnostics has also developed the IHC Immune Status in situ App as well as the IF Immune Status in situ App; both being specifically designed to be used in tumor immunology. These Apps detect stained cell populations, and when combined with tumor and lymphocyte cluster detection and proximity capabilities, this technology can answer many questions regarding the tumor immune microenvironment.

With products and services aimed at helping the biomedical field to better understand the tumor immune microenvironment, TissueGnostics remains at the forefront of scientific innovation and medical impact. Experts at TissueGnostics provide their clients with sophisticated solutions that have been designed to ensure accurate and detailed data extraction of the tumor immune microenvironment .

Further details about the various products and services available can be found on our website. If you are interested in learning more about the tumor immune microenvironment or any related products and services, please reach out to a member of the TissueGnostics team.

References
• https://tissuegnostics.com/products
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-018-0014-x
• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.624725/ full#
• https://tissuegnostics.com/products/contextual-image-analysis/strataquest-app/ihc-meta-cells-app-stroma-and-tumor-detection-on-morphological-stains
• https://tissuegnostics .com/products/contextual-image-analysis/strataquest-app/ihc-immune-status-in-situ-app-tumor-immunology