Why Aureon?

Aureon Laboratories specializes in the development of first-in-class, tissue-based predictive and prognostic assays which can be routinely run in our CLIA / GLP laboratory. Aureon’s unique technology platform meets unmet needs in tissue-based in situ biomarker analysis by providing:

• A higher degree of biological context from fewer formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens. This is done by applying Aureon’s proprietary object-oriented image analysis algorithms to quantify multiplexed protein biomarker assays in the context of tumor microanatomy (i.e., gland units, stroma, nuclei, cytoplasm, vessels). In this manner, tumor heterogeneity is taken into account, offering a higher degree of precision over standard IHC (1+, 2+, 3+, etc.) and other approaches that are limited to tumor masking methodologies.
• Generation of more content via morphometric quantitation of both H&E and multiplexed IF stained tissue which takes hundreds of measurements related to %, area, standard deviation, mean, median, max, min, color, texture, shape, size, density, intensity, etc. This creates a statistical repository containing quantitative features that may have clinical relevance. Feature reduction is then performed via supervised machine learning in order to identify which histological and molecular morphometric features have the most impact on the final predictive or prognostic model.
• A standardized, robust, quantitative platform for molecular biomarker discovery, validation, and routine analysis across large patient subsets
• A single platform to enable higher correlation of molecular biomarkers validated in pre-clinical and translational research with clinical tissue specimens
• Development of tissue-based, comprehensive biometric signatures that correlate with therapeutic response and / or disease progression, allowing for more accurate patient stratification than univariate methods

Figure 1. Prostate tissue is shown post classification with Aureon’s proprietary object-based image analysis algorithms. Biomarker quantitation is done within micro anatomical objects (glands, nuclei, vessels, stroma, etc.), thus, tumor heterogeneity is taken into account. Note: AMACR = Alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase, AR = Androgen Receptor.

Figure 2. K-M Curve for clinical failure with AR evaluated using IHC staining index. Cut-point: 100, p-value: 0.0018, Hazard Ratio: 2.30.

Figure 3. K-M Curve for clinical failure with AR evaluated using Aureon M-PLEX to quantitate AR+, AMACR+ regions. Cut-point: 0.33260, p-value: <0.001, Hazard Ratio: 7.06.

Figures 2 and 3: Comparison of K-M curves generated from a study to assess a superior method to measure Androgen Receptor (AR) as a prognostic biomarker for clinical failure in prostate cancer patients. Endpoint: Clinical Failure. Cohort: 264 Patients from MSKCC whose radical-prostatectomy tissues were available as tissue microarrays. Conclusion: Localization and quantitation of Androgen Receptor using Aureon’s proprietary image analysis algorithms enables better stratification as indicated by HR = 7.06.