Cell analyzing apparatus and cell analyzing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9443127-B2
Application number	US-201414488947-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2014
Priority date	Sep 19, 2013
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

A cell analyzing apparatus includes: a first histogram acquiring section which is configured to acquire a first histogram of fluorescence intensities by using a result of a measurement of a number of nuclear stained cells; a second histogram acquiring section which is configured to acquire a second histogram that is normalized based on a fluorescence intensity value indicating a maximum value of the first histogram; a determining section which is configured to determine whether cancer cells exist or not, based on one of the first histogram and the second histogram; and an outputting section which is configured to output a result of the determination performed by the determining section.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cell analyzing method comprising:
acquiring a first histogram of fluorescence intensities by using a result of a measurement of a number of nuclear stained cells;
determining whether the fluorescence intensity value indicating the maximum value of the first histogram is outside the predetermined range; in a case where a fluorescence intensity value indicating a maximum value of the first histogram is outside a predetermined range, determining that malignant tumor cells exist;
in a case where the fluorescence intensity value indicating the maximum value of the first histogram is within the predetermined range, acquiring a second histogram that is normalized based on the fluorescence intensity value, and determining whether the malignant tumor cells exist or not; and
outputting a result of the determination,
wherein the acquiring the second histogram comprises performing normalization such that the maximum value of the first histogram has a first predetermined value and such that the fluorescence intensity value indicating the maximum value of the first histogram has a second predetermined value,
wherein, when the fluorescence intensity value indicating the maximum value of the first histogram is determined to be outside the predetermined range, the determination that the malignant tumor cells exist is made without acquiring the second histogram, and
wherein, when the fluorescence intensity value indicating the maximum value of the first histogram is determined to be within the predetermined range, the determination of whether the malignant tumor cells exist or not is made based on the second histogram.

2. The cell analyzing method according to claim 1 , further comprising: an analyzing step in which frequency analysis is applied to the second histogram,
wherein determining whether the malignant tumor cells exist or not is based on a result of the frequency analysis.

3. The cell analyzing method according to claim 2 , wherein the frequency analysis includes Fast Fourier Transform.

4. The cell analyzing method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises dividing fluorescence intensity values of the second histogram into a plurality of zones each of which corresponds to respective one of debris and a plurality of malignant tumor cell cycles, and acquiring an index relating to existence/nonexistence of the malignant tumor cells for at least one of the plurality of zones, and
wherein fluorescence intensity values each of which corresponds to respective one of boundaries of the plurality of zones are constant regardless of the acquired second histogram.

5. The cell analyzing method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises acquiring a plurality of indexes relating to existence/nonexistence of the malignant tumor cells, based on a plurality of parameters relating to the second histogram, and determining whether the malignant tumor cells exist or not, based on a combination of the plurality of indexes.

Assignees

• Nihon Kohden Corp

Inventors

• Takeda Sunao
• Kubo Hirotsugu
• Shioyama Takahiro
• Suzuki Akane
• Nomura Kenichi
• Kato Yo
• Hinata Nae

Classifications

• A61B5/0071

  by measuring fluorescence emission · CPC title

• G01N21/6428

  Measuring fluorescence of fluorescent products of reactions or of fluorochrome labelled reactive substances, e.g. measuring quenching effects, using measuring "optrodes" (in vivo A61B5/00; immunoassay G01N33/53) · CPC title

• G01N2015/1402

  Data analysis by thresholding or gating operations performed on the acquired signals or stored data · CPC title

• G01N15/1459

  the analysis being performed on a sample stream · CPC title

• G01N2015/1488

  Methods for deciding · CPC title