Detection of abnormal cells

A method for detecting abnormal cells in a cytological specimen, the method comprising:

• treating said cytological specimen with a first reagent that specifically labels a cellular constituent that differs in concentration between normal and abnormal cells;
• treating said cytological specimen with a second reagent that specifically labels cell types that are not of interest, said cell types being capable of expressing the cellular constituent labeled by the first reagent;
• treating said cytological specimen with a third reagent that permits discrimination between cellular and non-cellular material;
• capturing an image or plurality of images of said cytological specimen after treatment of the specimen with said three reagents wherein said image or images permit discrimination between the respective areas labeled by the said three reagents;
• evaluating the image(s) to localize and define objects stained with the first, second and/or third reagents;
• and
• classifying the cells labeled with the first reagent and the third reagent, but not with the second reagent as being abnormal.

A method for detecting dysplastic cells in a cervical cytological sample, the method comprising:

• collecting the cervical cytology sample;
• preparing a cell suspension from the cervical cytology sample;
• depositing a representative sampling of the cell suspension on a microscope slide;
• fixing the deposited cells on the microscope slide;
• contacting the cytological sample with a cytological detection cocktail comprising:
• (i) a first reagent that identifies proliferating cells;
• (ii) a second reagent that identifies proliferating non-dysplastic cells;
• and
• (iii) a third reagent that identifies cellular material;
• and
• classifying as abnormal any portions of the cytological sample that have been identified by the first reagent and the third reagent but not the second reagent.

A method for detecting abnormal cells in a cervical cytological sample, the method comprising:

• collecting the cervical cytology sample using a cell collection device;
• fixing the deposited cells on the cell collection device;
• contacting the cytological sample with a cytological detection cocktail comprising:
• (i) a first reagent that labels proliferating cells;
• (ii) a second reagent that labels proliferating non-dysplastic cells;
• and
• (iii) a third reagent that labels cellular material;
• and
• identifying as abnormal any cells that have been labeled by the first reagent and the third reagent but not by the second reagent.

A method for detecting abnormal cells in a cytological specimen, the method comprising:

• treating said cytological specimen with a first reagent that specifically labels a cellular constituent that differs in concentration between normal and abnormal cells;
• treating said cytological specimen with a second reagent that specifically labels cell types that are not of interest, said cell types being capable of expressing the cellular constituent labeled by the first reagent;
• treating said cytological specimen with a third reagent that permits discrimination between cellular and non-cellular material;
• passing the treated cytological specimen through a flow cytometer that captures the fluorescent emissions from each individual object in the specimen in at least three channels, one channel corresponding to the emissions from one of the three reagents with which the specimen was treated;
• evaluating signals in the three channels in order to estimate the relative levels of staining of the object by the first, second and third reagents;
• and
• classifying the cells labeled with the first reagent and the third reagent, but not with the second reagent as being abnormal.

A method for selectively identifying dysplastic cervical cells, comprising:

• contacting the cytological sample with a cytological detection cocktail comprising:
• (i) a first reagent that preferentially stains proliferating cervical cells;
• (ii) a second reagent that preferentially stains normal endocervical cells;
• and
• (iii) a third reagent that preferentially stains cellular material;
• capturing an image of the cytological sample to form a captured cytological image;
• and
• processing the captured cellular image to identify any dysplastic cells by
• (i) excluding from consideration any non-cellular material by excluding portions of the cytological sample that has been not stained by the third reagent;
• (ii) selecting for consideration proliferating cells by selecting any remaining portions of the cytological sample that has been stained by the first reagent;
• (iii) excluding from consideration normal endocervical cells by excluding any remaining portions of the cytological sample that have been stained by the first reagent and by the second reagent;
• and
• (iv) identifying any remaining portions as containing dysplastic cells.

A cytological detection cocktail for selectively identifying dysplastic cells in the presence of non-dysplastic cells, the cytological detection cocktail comprising:

• a reagent that selectively and differentially stains proliferating cells;
• a reagent that selectively and differentially stains proliferating non-dysplastic cells;
• and
• a reagent that selectively and differentially stains cellular material;
• wherein each of the three reagents can be spectrally differentiated from one another.