It therefore becomes primordial to benefit from a technological platform that allows to deal with the tumor biology complexity/heterogeneity and get specific investigations in compartments of interest (e.g. tumor vs stroma). Thanks to the GeoMx platform (Nanostring Inc.), which combines the spatial resolution of immunohistofluorescence with the high-plex gene/protein expression analysis, the Digital Spatial Profiling (DSP) revolution has started.
Starting from specimens as simple as FFPE tissue samples, this novel technology offers through selected panels the simultaneous analysis of up to 96 mRNAs or 10’s-100’s proteins in several regions of interest (ROIs) divided in two compartments.
In addition to these panels, the comprehensive Cancer Transcriptome Atlas (CTA) - covering 1,800 genes and more than 50 cancer-related pathways -, as well as the Whole Transcriptome Atlas (WTA) - covering 18,000 protein-coding human genes - are now running!
Illustrative data
Spatial profiling of FFPE tissue section from human lung cancer

FFPE tissue section from human lung cancer was stained for standard fluorescent morphology ...
Key features and advantages of digital spatial profiling
- Non-invasive approach preserving sample integrity
- Highly multiplexed RNA or protein detection - up to 1800 targets in a run from a single FFPE section
- Whole slide imaging with up to 4 fluorescent channels to capture tissue morphology and select regions of interest (ROIs) for high-plex profiling
- Possible multianalyte analysis for deep sample characterization
- Digital quantitation with integrated data normalization and analysis