Virtual Staining–Enabled Macrophage Profiling in Ovarian & Lung Cancer

Principal Investigator

Name
Anant Madabhushi

Degrees
PhD

Institution
Emory University

Position Title
Professor

Email
anantm@emory.edu

About this CDAS Project

Study
PLCO (Learn more about this study)

Project ID
PLCOI-2068

Initial CDAS Request Approval
Jul 27, 2026

Title
Virtual Staining–Enabled Macrophage Profiling in Ovarian & Lung Cancer

Summary
This study leverages a cutting-edge AI-based virtual staining model to detect and quantify tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs)—particularly those of the M2 subtype—in ovarian and lung cancer tissues. Using virtually generated immunohistochemistry (e.g., CD68/CD163) from H&E images, our approach enables non-destructive, cost-effective extraction of macrophage profiles at scale. Prior work (e.g., VISTA) has demonstrated strong performance (SSIM ≈ 0.74) in identifying M2-TAMs across nearly 1,000 patients. By applying this model to large ovarian and lung cancer cohorts, we will investigate how macrophage density and spatial distribution correlate with prognosis and therapy response, offering a powerful tool for biomarker discovery and treatment stratification.
While this application focuses on ovarian and lung cancer, the same approach can be extended into a more generalizable immune–microenvironment profiling framework across additional available datasets, with the PLCO ovarian/lung study remaining a key use case.

Aims

Apply virtual staining to ovarian and lung cancer H&E slides to identify
and quantify TAM populations (CD68+, CD163+).
Correlate macrophage metrics with clinical outcomes (OS/PFS), treatment
responses, and existing immunoprofiling data.

Collaborators

Anant Madabhushi Emory University
KRUNAL PANDAV Emory University
German Corredor Emory University
Tilak Pathak Emory University
Ujjwal Baid Emory University