Executive Summary
The automation of FISH slide scoring in a high throughput fashion has long been a goal for cytogenetic analysis. The development of CytoVision automated scanning and image analysis has enabled realization of this aspiration. In the current study, automation was utilized across seven assays, in combination with a CLL menu of Kreatech FISH probes. The results demonstrate that the combination of Kreatech FISH probes with a fully automated, unsupervised analysis can successfully be used to classify patient samples according to known CLL-associated genomic abnormalities. The overall comparative analysis per CLL probe set, between manually scored slides and slides analyzed using automation and unsupervised analysis, showed at least 94% concordance, which increased to 100% following subsequent review. Overall, the hands-on time was drastically reduced by 88% (48 hr 45 min) and a permanent record for each sample automatically created. The full automation of the image analysis process using the CytoVision GSL-120 scanning system demonstrates the versatility and effectiveness of the system to be easily integrated into high throughput, routine FISH analysis.
Summary
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in adults, with a median survival of ~9 years (1). The disease is characterized by a highly variable clinical course. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has been shown to detect genomic abnormalities in over 80% of CLL cases (2, 3). A menu of seven specific molecular biomarkers detectable using FISH assays has been established within the Leica Biosystems’ repeat-free Kreatech FISH portfolio to predict clinical outcomes per patient. These seven DNA FISH probes have been selected to detect prevalent genetic aberrations found in B-cell CLL with known diagnostic value.>> Download the full Application Note as PDF
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