Immunology Research: Understanding the Fine Balance of the Immune System

The immune system often plays a role in the onset and progression of different disorders such as autoimmunity, fibrosis, and cancer. Immunology research often focuses on understanding which cell types, cytokines, pathways, and transcription factors are involved in the balance between immune activation and suppression.

This immunology research can lead to better treatments for chronic inflammation and disease. In addition to traditional bulk immunotherapy gene expression profiling and proteomic analysis, spatial profiling of the location of immune cells in tissue can yield a better understanding of disease pathogenesis, uncovering differences within individuals as well as novel immune related biomarkers for stratification and treatment. Layering on single-cell spatial analysis can help delve deeper into the function and behavior of individual cells, paving the way for groundbreaking discoveries and new therapies in the field of immunology.

Challenges

Immunology research can be challenging due to the sheer number of different cell types involved and the variable response between different individuals dependent on genetics, age, and exposure history. Making meaningful discoveries involves getting a holistic view of both the systemic and localized immune response which often involves integrating datasets from disparate technologies. Translation of immunology research results to the clinic requires reliable preclinical models which don’t always correlate to human studies, and not all patients respond to treatment. Better immune related biomarkers and immunotherapy gene expression profiling signatures are needed to help identify novel targets and predict treatment response.

Your Trusted Partner in Immunology Research

NanoString has been developing innovative research tools for over 20 years and is committed to partnering with the community for immunology research. We offer integrated, multiomic research solutions that allow you to study the dynamic and complex nature of the immune response to autoimmune disorders, transplanted organs and cancer from the level of single cells to multicellular tissue compartments and patient cohorts. Wherever you are headed with your immunology research, NanoString can get you actionable insights from FFPE, fresh frozen tissue, cell lysates, and biofluids.

• Profile the expression of 800+ genes from a single sample with the nCounter® Analysis System
• Spatially profile the whole transcriptome and hundreds of protein targets within distinct tissue compartments and cell populations with the GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP)
• Profile the immune response at the single cell and subcellular level with the CosMx™ Spatial Molecular Imager (SMI)

Immune Cell Type Profiling

Select nCounter panels feature genes that provide unique cell profiling data to measure the relative abundance of different immune cell types.

• To date, 14 different immune cell types have been identified by their gene signatures for inclusion in nCounter panels.
• The panels can be run downstream of flow cytometry to profile specific immune cell populations.

Immune Cell Type Profiling is also available for GeoMx RNA expression data from the Cancer Transcriptome Atlas or the Human Whole Transcriptome Atlas.

• The SpatialDecon script estimates the abundance of 18 different immune cell types within an area of interest.
• The immune cell abundance estimates are spatially resolved, granular and paired with highly multiplexed gene expression data.

Abundance estimates of 18 different immune cell types within 191 regions of interest in a tumor section made from GeoMx Whole Transcriptome Atlas data using the SpatialDecon script. Cell counts are proportional to the wedge size of each color. Figures reproduced with permission from Danaher et al. Nat Commun 13, 385 (2022) under the Creative Commons License.