An integrated one-step system to extract, analyze and annotate all relevant information from image-based cell screening of chemical libraries

Mol Biosyst. 2010 Apr;6(4):711-20. doi: 10.1039/b919830j. Epub 2010 Jan 21.

Abstract

Here we report the development and validation of a complete solution to manage and analyze the data produced by image-based phenotypic screening campaigns of small-molecule libraries. In one step initial crude images are analyzed for multiple cytological features, statistical analysis is performed and molecules that produce the desired phenotypic profile are identified. A naïve Bayes classifier, integrating chemical and phenotypic spaces, is built and utilized during the process to assess those images initially classified as "fuzzy"-an automated iterative feedback tuning. Simultaneously, all this information is directly annotated in a relational database containing the chemical data. This novel fully automated method was validated by conducting a re-analysis of results from a high-content screening campaign involving 33 992 molecules used to identify inhibitors of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Ninety-two percent of confirmed hits identified by the conventional multistep analysis method were identified using this integrated one-step system as well as 40 new hits, 14.9% of the total, originally false negatives. Ninety-six percent of true negatives were properly recognized too. A web-based access to the database, with customizable data retrieval and visualization tools, facilitates the posterior analysis of annotated cytological features which allows identification of additional phenotypic profiles; thus, further analysis of original crude images is not required.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line
  • Database Management Systems
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / statistics & numerical data*
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / chemistry
  • Enzyme Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / statistics & numerical data*
  • Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Small Molecule Libraries / chemistry*
  • Small Molecule Libraries / pharmacology*
  • Systems Biology

Substances

  • Enzyme Inhibitors
  • Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors
  • Small Molecule Libraries
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt