Diagnostic Method and System

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of diagnosis which identifies one or more individual cells and comprises determining at least one of a cell dimension and a cell area, and determining at least one of dark/light cell contrast characteristics, cell area characteristics, cell colour characteristics, cell roughness characteristics, distances between cell nuclei and cell convexity. A computer readable medium, a computer apparatus and a diagnostic system is also provided.

1 . A method of diagnosis comprising:
 providing a cell sample;
 contacting said cell sample with an antibody capable of binding a minichromosome maintenance (MCM) polypeptide(s); observing one or more cell samples; 
 identifying one or more individual cells;
 determining one or more characteristics of the, or each, individual cell; 
 comparing the, or each, determined characteristic with a respective determined or predetermined characteristic; and 
 recording the correlation of the, or each, determined characteristic and the respective predetermined characteristic; 
 wherein identifying the one or more individual cells comprises determining at least one of a cell dimension and a cell area, and wherein determining the one or more characteristics comprises determining at least one of the dark/light cell contrast characteristics, cell area characteristics, cell colour characteristics, cell roughness characteristics, distances between cell nuclei and cell convexity. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . A method of diagnosis as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing image processing means;   receiving an image of the one or more cell samples;
 identifying said one or more individual cells on the received image; 
 determining one or more characteristics of the, or each, individual cell from the captured image; 
 comparing the, or each, determined characteristic with a respective determined or predetermined characteristic; and 
 recording the correlation of the, or each, determined characteristic and the respective predetermined characteristic; 
 wherein identifying the one or more individual cells comprises the image processing means determining at least one of a cell dimension and a cell area, and wherein determining the one or more characteristics comprises the image processing means determining at least one of the dark/light cell contrast characteristics, cell area characteristics, cell colour characteristics, cell roughness characteristics, distances between cell nuclei and cell convexity. 
   
     
     
         3 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising summing the number of individual cells which have determined characteristics which correlate with the predetermined characteristics. 
     
     
         4 . A method as claimed in  claim 2 , further comprising scanning a tissue sample to provide the image of the one or more cell samples. 
     
     
         5 . A method as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein the scanning comprises raster scanning. 
     
     
         6 . A method as claimed in  claim 4 , further comprising dying a said tissue sample prior to scanning. 
     
     
         7 . A method as claimed in  claim 1  wherein identifying the individual cells comprises identifying respective nuclei on the image. 
     
     
         8 . A method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the nuclei are identified by determining dark areas of the image. 
     
     
         9 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising determining the intensity of the contrast of the dark/light image areas of the said cell. 
     
     
         10 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising searching for regions of predetermined colour of the cell on the image. 
     
     
         11 . A method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein determining the cell dimension comprises determining one or more of the cell contour area, cell circularity, cell axis ratio, cell convexity, cell length and cell width. 
     
     
         12 . A computer readable medium carrying a computer program configured to carry out the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         13 . A computer apparatus comprising:
 a memory storing processor readable instructions; and
 a processor configured to read and execute instructions stored in said program memory; 
 wherein said processor readable instructions comprise instructions controlling the processor to carry out the method of  claim 1 . 
   
     
     
         14 . A diagnostic system comprising:
 a sample slide mount for receiving a slide having cell samples disposed thereon;   image capture means operable to capture an image of the cell samples; and   a computer apparatus as claimed in  claim 13 .   
     
     
         15 . A system as claimed in  claim 14  wherein the image capture means comprises magnifying means. 
     
     
         16 . A system as claimed in  claim 15 , wherein the magnifying means is a microscope. 
     
     
         17 . A system as claimed in  claim 14  further comprising a motor operable to move the sample slide mount relative to the image capture means in a controlled manner. 
     
     
         18 . A system as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein the motor comprises a raster scanner. 
     
     
         19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . (canceled)