While novel immunotherapies are revolutionizing the way some cancers are treated, not all patients will respond to treatment, underlining the need for biomarkers that can predict potential clinical benefit and monitor a patient’s response.
Until recently, immune activity within and surrounding a tumor was typically analyzed through staining of an individual biomarker on a pathological slide, or though cell sorting and analysis of a homogenized tumor sample. New technology available at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center’s Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory (IMCPL) now enables multispectral automated imaging of intact tumor tissues, allowing for the rapid detection and quantitation of multiple overlapping biomarkers and simultaneous evaluation of their spatial context within the tissue architecture.
Watch Lisa Butterfield, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Surgery and Immunology; Director of the Hillman IMCPL; and President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) describe the importance of this new technology in informing and guiding precision cancer immunotherapy going forward.
