Dataset Information

THItoGene: a deep learning method for predicting spatial transcriptomics from histological images.

ABSTRACT: Spatial transcriptomics unveils the complex dynamics of cell regulation and transcriptomes, but it is typically cost-prohibitive. Predicting spatial gene expression from histological images via artificial intelligence offers a more affordable option, yet existing methods fall short in extracting deep-level information from pathological images. In this paper, we present THItoGene, a hybrid neural network that utilizes dynamic convolutional and capsule networks to adaptively sense potential molecular signals in histological images for exploring the relationship between high-resolution pathology image phenotypes and regulation of gene expression. A comprehensive benchmark evaluation using datasets from human breast cancer and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma has demonstrated the superior performance of THItoGene in spatial gene expression prediction. Moreover, THItoGene has demonstrated its capacity to decipher both the spatial context and enrichment signals within specific tissue regions. THItoGene can be freely accessed at https://github.com/yrjia1015/THItoGene.

SUBMITTER: Jia Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10749789 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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THItoGene: a deep learning method for predicting spatial transcriptomics from histological images.

Jia Yuran Y Liu Junliang J Chen Li L Zhao Tianyi T Wang Yadong Y

Briefings in bioinformatics 20231101 1

Spatial transcriptomics unveils the complex dynamics of cell regulation and transcriptomes, but it is typically cost-prohibitive. Predicting spatial gene expression from histological images via artificial intelligence offers a more affordable option, yet existing methods fall short in extracting deep-level information from pathological images. In this paper, we present THItoGene, a hybrid neural network that utilizes dynamic convolutional and capsule networks to adaptively sense potential molecu ...[more]

PMID: 38145948

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Project description:Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are revolutionizing digital pathology by enabling machine learning-based classification of a variety of phenotypes from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) whole slide images (WSIs), but the interpretation of CNNs remains difficult. Most studies have considered interpretability in a post hoc fashion, e.g. by presenting example regions with strongly predicted class labels. However, such an approach does not explain the biological features that contribute to correct predictions. To address this problem, here we investigate the interpretability of H&E-derived CNN features (the feature weights in the final layer of a transfer-learning-based architecture). While many studies have incorporated CNN features into predictive models, there has been little empirical study of their properties. We show such features can be construed as abstract morphological genes ("mones") with strong independent associations to biological phenotypes. Many mones are specific to individual cancer types, while others are found in multiple cancers especially from related tissue types. We also observe that mone-mone correlations are strong and robustly preserved across related cancers. Importantly, linear mone-based classifiers can very accurately separate 38 distinct classes (19 tumor types and their adjacent normals, AUC = [Formula: see text] for each class prediction), and linear classifiers are also highly effective for universal tumor detection (AUC = [Formula: see text]). This linearity provides evidence that individual mones or correlated mone clusters may be associated with interpretable histopathological features or other patient characteristics. In particular, the statistical similarity of mones to gene expression values allows integrative mone analysis via expression-based bioinformatics approaches. We observe strong correlations between individual mones and individual gene expression values, notably mones associated with collagen gene expression in ovarian cancer. Mone-expression comparisons also indicate that immunoglobulin expression can be identified using mones in colon adenocarcinoma and that immune activity can be identified across multiple cancer types, and we verify these findings by expert histopathological review. Our work demonstrates that mones provide a morphological H&E decomposition that can be effectively associated with diverse phenotypes, analogous to the interpretability of transcription via gene expression values. Our work also demonstrates mones can be interpreted without using a classifier as a proxy.

Project description:Fusarium head blight (FHB) incited by Fusarium graminearum Schwabe is a devastating disease of barley and other cereal crops worldwide. Fusarium head blight is associated with trichothecene mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON), where contaminated grains are unfit for malting or animal feed industries. While genetically resistant cultivars offer the best economic and environmentally responsible means to mitigate disease, parent lines with adequate resistance are limited in barley. Resistancebreeding based upon quantitative genetic gains has been slow to date, due to intensive labour requirements of disease nurseries. The development of high throughput genome-wide molecular markers, allow application in genomic prediction models. A diverse genomic panel consisting of 400 two-row spring barley lines was assembled to focus on Canadian barley breeding programs. The panel was evaluated for FHB and DON content in three environments and over two years. Moreover, it was genotyped using an Illumina Infinium HTS iSelect custom beadchip array of single nucleotide polymorphic molecular markers (50K SNP), where over 23K molecular markers were polymorphic. Genomic prediction has been successfully demonstrated for reducing FHB and DON content in cereals using various statistically-based models of different underlying assumptions. Herein, we have studied an alternative method basedon machine learning and compare it with a statistical approach. Two encoding techniques were utilized (categorical or Hardy-Weinberg frequencies), followed by selecting essential genomic markers for phenotype prediction. Subsequently, we applied a transformer-based deep learning algorithm to predict FHB and DON. Apart from the transformer method, we also implemented a Residual Fully Connected Neural Network (RFCNN). Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to compare true vs. predicted outputs. Under most model scenarios, the use of all markers vs. selected markers marginally improved prediction performance except for RFCNN method for FHB (27.6%). Hardy-Weinberg encoding generally improved correlation for FHB (6.9%) and DON (9.6%) for transformer. This study suggests the potential of the transformer based method for genomic prediction of complex traits such as FHB or DON, having performed better or equally compared with existing machine learning and statistical method. To genomic prediction in barley for Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol content using a custom Illumina Infinium array (BarleySNP50-JHI) (www.illumina.com). Sample types included leaves from 400 barley genotypes mostly of Canadian origin. This series includes 400 genotypes assayed on an Illumina infinium HTS platform 50K BeadChip.

Dataset Information

THItoGene: a deep learning method for predicting spatial transcriptomics from histological images.

Publications

THItoGene: a deep learning method for predicting spatial transcriptomics from histological images.

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