Image processor, image processing method, and program

An image processing method for quantifying a specific biological material in a region of interest of a sample stained with a first staining reagent capable of staining the specific biological material and stained with a second staining reagent capable of staining a specific region of a cell without interfering with staining with the first staining reagent, the method comprising:

• a first input step of inputting a first image that shows a position of expression of the biological material stained with the first staining reagent;
• a second input step of inputting a second image that is acquired in the same field of view as the first image and shows a morphology of the specific region of the cell stained with the second staining reagent;
• a second image specific region extraction step of extracting the specific region from the second image;
• and
• a derivation step of deriving the region of interest based on at least the second image having undergone extraction of the specific region among the first image and the second image having undergone extraction of the specific region;
• and
• a density calculation step to calculate a density of the specific region,
• wherein the derivation step performs dilation for dilating the specific region and derives the dilated specific region as the region of interest, and
• wherein the derivation step determines a dilation ratio for the dilation based on the density.

A non-transitory recording medium storing a computer readable program for causing a computer to quantify a specific biological material in a region of interest of a sample stained with a first staining reagent capable of staining the specific biological material and stained with a second staining reagent capable of staining a specific region of a cell without interfering with staining with the first staining reagent, the program causing the computer to function as:

• first input means for inputting a first image that shows a position of expression of the biological material stained with the first staining reagent;
• second input means for inputting a second image that is acquired in the same field of view as the first image and shows a morphology of the specific region of the cell stained with the second staining reagent;
• second image specific region extraction means for extracting the specific region from the second image;
• and
• derivation means for deriving the region of interest based on at least the second image having undergone extraction of the specific region among the first image and the second image having undergone extraction of the specific region;
• and
• density calculation means configured to calculate a density of the specific region,
• wherein the derivation means is configured to perform dilation for dilating the specific region and to derive the dilated specific region as the region of interest, and
• wherein the derivation means is configured to determine a dilation ratio for the dilation based on the density.