SP 3

Toponomic Models of the architectures of lymphomas

A lymphoma is always surrounded and intervened by non-tumorous cells. This environment influences the tumour, and the tumour influences its environment.
We investigate the spatial organisation of this microenvironment of lymphomas with the use of toponomical algorithms. We stain tissue sections with several fluorescence markers and identify cells with different expression programs. Thereby we do not only attend to the lymphoma cells, but also to the cells around the tumour. We detect automatically the types of cells and their quantity, which cell types are in direct contact, and so on. From this information we distil pattern of cellular organisation, which characterize sub-entities of lymphomas.
In analogy to the gene expression analyses in WP1, we will develop this technology towards a diagnostic platform to subtype lymphomas. WP2  validates this platform in prospective trials.