Systems and methods for using an immunostaining mask to selectively refine ish analysis results

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to:

• receive a first image of a tissue sample containing signals from an immunofluorescent (IF) morphological marker, wherein the tissue sample is stained with the IF morphological marker;
• receive a second image of the same tissue sample containing signals from a fluorescent probe, wherein the tissue sample is hybridized in situ with the fluorescent probe;
• classify each biological unit in the tissue sample into one of at least two classes based on a mean intensity of the signals from the IF morphological marker in the first image;
• perform a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of the tissue sample in the second image to obtain results therefrom;
• and
• filter the results of the FISH analysis to produce a subset of the results pertaining to biological units classified as epithelial only.

A system for processing image data representing biological units in a tissue sample, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• an input in electrical communication with the processor and configured to receive the image data;
• and
• a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory including computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• receive a first image of a tissue sample containing signals from an immunofluorescent (IF) morphological marker, wherein the tissue sample is stained with the IF morphological marker;
• receive a second image of the same tissue sample containing signals from a fluorescent probe, wherein the tissue sample is hybridized in situ with the fluorescent probe;
• classify each biological unit in the tissue sample into one of at least two classes based on a mean intensity of the signals from the IF morphological marker in the first image;
• perform a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis of the tissue sample in the second image to obtain results therefrom;
• and
• filter the results of the FISH analysis to produce a subset of the results pertaining to biological units classified in one of the at least two classes only.