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‘Instagram’ of a person’s immune system for cancer patients on experimental immunotherapy treatments which is called mass cytometry, that allows very high sensitivity to make pictures of immune system has been created. This is possible because there’s artificial intelligence machine learning combined with algorithms that can make a very complex system easy to visualize.
Researchers stain cells using rare metal-conjugated antibodies that target surface and intracellular proteins in biological tissues, there are no rare metals, so this technique offers greater sensitivity in detecting targets. Inside the Helios, the cells are ionized using an inductively-coupled plasma. The ions derived from each stained cell are maintained in discrete clouds that can be detected in a mass spectrometer.
The technique can potentially detect up to 100 markers per cell, although, due to practical restrictions, about 40 are more realistic. Then researchers use artificial intelligence and bioinformatics to create a two-dimensional mapping that can read the results, creating an Instagram of millions of blood cells. “High-dimensional single-cell analysis predicts response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy” identified biomarkers in the blood that can predict whether metastatic melanoma cancer patients will respond positively to immunotherapy.
The aim was to see if a blood test for these biomarkers could identity those who may benefit, while allowing “non-responders” to begin other treatments without losing time. The recent study found an immune cell type known as classical monocytes in the peripheral blood may be a potential biomarker for patients who will respond to anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint therapy in metastatic melanoma.
The frequency of monocytes that is enhanced in responders over non-responders before immunotherapy, this technique cam be used to closely examine how cells interact in the microenvironment of the tissue and the tumor. Instagram pictures- a picture before therapy and a picture during therapy.
The proteome is the complete set of proteins being expressed by a genome or cell at a certain time under certain conditions. This actually is what makes the interactions happen, where the immune cell interacts with an immune cell or a tumor cell. Studying whole networking of cells in the body and how they react toward the environment and in immunotherapy.
Doing real-time monitoring in patients based on their specific genetic make-up and the immunotherapy treatment they are receiving opens all kinds of research possibilities. This allows physicians to apply precision medicine to help patients and researchers to use systems biology to discover the mechanisms of disease.
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