Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36367625›Full record

ArticleJournal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV2023

An open source pipeline for quantitative immunohistochemistry image analysis of inflammatory skin disease using artificial intelligence.

Yuchun Ding, Gaurav Dhawan, Claire Jones, Thomas Ness, Esme Nichols, Natalio Krasnogor, Nick J Reynolds

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Artificial intelligence-based quantification of epidermal proliferation and apoptosis in human skin.JID innovations : skin science from molecules to population health · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Yuchun DingInterdisciplinary Computing and Complex Biosystems Research Group, School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Gaurav DhawanInstitute of Translational and Clinical Medicine, Newcastle University Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7735-5799
Claire JonesMRC/EPSRC, Molecular Pathology Node, Department of Pathology, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4580-6564
Thomas NessMRC/EPSRC, Molecular Pathology Node, Department of Pathology, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Esme NicholsInstitute of Translational and Clinical Medicine, Newcastle University Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Natalio KrasnogorInterdisciplinary Computing and Complex Biosystems Research Group, School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Nick J ReynoldsInstitute of Translational and Clinical Medicine, Newcastle University Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6484-825X
Royal Victoria Infirmary · GBEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council · GBNewcastle University · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_PC_17168Medical Research Council MR/N005872/1NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Newcastle upon TyneThe Rosetrees Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe application of artificial intelligence (AI) to whole slide images has the potential to improve research reliability and ultimately diagnostic efficiency and service capacity. Image annotation plays a key role in AI and digital pathology. However, the work-streams required for tissue-specific (skin) and immunostain-specific annotation has not been extensively studied compared with the development of AI algorithms.

objectivesThe objective of this study is to develop a common workflow for annotating whole slide images of biopsies from inflammatory skin disease immunostained with a variety of epidermal and dermal markers prior to the development of the AI-assisted analysis pipeline.

methodsA total of 45 slides containing 3-5 sections each were scanned using Aperio AT2 slide scanner (Leica Biosystems). These slides were annotated by hand using a commonly used image analysis tool which resulted in more than 4000 images blocks. We used deep learning (DL) methodology to first sequentially segment (epidermis and upper dermis), with the exclusion of common artefacts and second to quantify the immunostained signal in those two compartments of skin biopsies and the ratio of positive cells.

resultsWe validated two DL models using 10-fold validation runs and by comparing to ground truth manually annotated data. The models achieved an average (global) accuracy of 95.0% for the segmentation of epidermis and dermis and 86.1% for the segmentation of positive/negative cells.

conclusionsThe application of two DL models in sequence facilitates accurate segmentation of epidermal and dermal structures, exclusion of common artefacts and enables the quantitative analysis of the immunostained signal. However, inaccurate annotation of the slides for training the DL model can decrease the accuracy of the output. Our open source code will facilitate further external validation across different immunostaining platforms and slide scanners.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceSkin DiseasesHumansImmunohistochemistryReproducibility of ResultsSoftware

Identifiers

PMID36367625
PMCPMC10947200
OpenAlexW4308772283

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.