Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40930089›Full record

ArticleCell reports methods2025

Multi-modal image analysis for large-scale cancer tissue studies within IMMUcan.

Nils Eling, Julien Dorier, Sylvie Rusakiewicz, Robin Liechti, Preethi Devanand, Michelle Daniel, Jonas Windhager, Bruno Palau Fernandez, Sophie Déglise, Lucie Despland and 14 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell reports methods, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Molecular and Immune Landscape of Recurrent and/or Distant Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: An EORTC/IMMUCAN Project.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
    Article
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  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
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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

24 authors.

Nils ElingDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Julien DorierBioinformatics Competence Center, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sylvie RusakiewiczDepartment of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Lausanne, Switzerland; Immune Landscape Laboratory, Centre Thérapies Expérimentales (CTE), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Robin LiechtiBioinformatics Competence Center, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Vital-IT Group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Preethi DevanandDepartment of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Lausanne, Switzerland; Immune Landscape Laboratory, Centre Thérapies Expérimentales (CTE), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Michelle DanielDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Jonas WindhagerDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Life Science Zurich Graduate School, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Bruno Palau FernandezDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sophie DégliseDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Lucie DesplandDepartment of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Lausanne, Switzerland; Immune Landscape Laboratory, Centre Thérapies Expérimentales (CTE), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abdelkader BenyagoubDepartment of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Lausanne, Switzerland; Immune Landscape Laboratory, Centre Thérapies Expérimentales (CTE), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Marcin MożejkoFaculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Dawid UchalFaculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Ewa SzczurekFaculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; Institute of AI for Health, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Munich, Germany.
Alexander LobodaStandard BioTools Canada, Inc., Markham, ON, Canada.
Daaf SandkuijlStandard BioTools Canada, Inc., Markham, ON, Canada.
Nikesh ParsotamStandard BioTools Canada, Inc., Markham, ON, Canada.
Henoch S HongMerck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.
Marie MorfouaceEORTC HQ, Avenue E. Mounier 83/11, 1200 Brussels, Belgium; Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France.
Nicolas GuexBioinformatics Competence Center, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
George CoukosDepartment of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Bernd BodenmillerDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Stephanie TissotDepartment of Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, Lausanne, Switzerland; Immune Landscape Laboratory, Centre Thérapies Expérimentales (CTE), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: stephanie.tissot@chuv.ch.
Daniel SchulzDepartment of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: daniel.schulz@uzh.ch.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In cancer research, multiplexed imaging allows detailed characterization of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and its link to patient prognosis. The integrated immunoprofiling of large adaptive cancer patient cohorts (IMMUcan) consortium collects multi-modal imaging data from thousands of patients with cancer to perform broad molecular and cellular spatial profiling. Here, we describe and compare two workflows for multiplexed immunofluorescence (mIF) and imaging mass cytometry (IMC) developed within IMMUcan to enable the generation of standardized data for cancer tissue analysis. The IFQuant software supports web-based, user-friendly, and reproducible analysis of mIF data. High sample throughput for IMC is achieved by optimizing experimental protocols, developing a robotic arm for automated slide loading, and classification-based cell typing. Using our manually labeled single-cell data, we show that tree-based methods outperform other cell-phenotyping tools. These pipelines form the basis for multiplexed image analysis within IMMUcan, and we summarize our learnings from 5 years of development and optimization.

Indexed as

Image Processing, Computer-AssistedMultimodal ImagingNeoplasmsFluorescent Antibody TechniqueHumansSoftwareTumor Microenvironmentcancercell segmentationCP: Cancer biologyCP: Immunologyimage analysisimaging mass cytometryIMMUcan consortiummultiplexed imagingsingle-cell analysisspatial proteomicstumor microenvironmentworkflow

Identifiers

PMID40930089
PMCPMC12539258

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.