Features with MDS need to be better defined to be robust indicators of disease. Disease experts from Lund University and Skåne Regional Laboratories show that Imaging Flow Cytometry (IFC) can provide the statistical discrimination of cellular features that are cellular hallmarks of MDS.
Notably they used DRAQ5 to trigger cellular events, widely used elsewhere. However, they describe a new identifier of nuclear condensation utilizing the DRAQ5 signal and the Bright Detail Intensity (BDI) feature in the Imagestream's IDEAS software. DRAQ5-BDI showed that there was a definitive reduction in this feature in disease versus normal bone marrow, consistent with degree of chromatin condensation, evident in megaloblastoid cells.
Moreover, they capitalized on the DRAQ5 signal to determine nuclear aspect ratio and nuclear area features and to identify binucleated cells which were weighted towards euploid rather than double DNA status in MDS samples and the reverse in normal bone marrow, reflecting different cell cycle positions and therefore proliferation rates.
Using fresh samples (neither fixed or freeze-thaw treated) they authors were able to more faithfully preserve the integrity of a range of features to segment cell populations and observe phenotypic staining and cytoplasmic features that were also beneficial in stratifying disease.
Reference:
Despoina Violidaki, Olof Axler, Lars Nilsson, Anna Porwit, Mats Ehinger. Translation of the Morphological Hallmarks of Dyserythropoiesis to Objective Morphometric Parameters by Imaging Flow Cytometry. International Journal of Laboratory Hematology. 2025 Jul 29. DOI:10.1111/ijlh.14534
