Histopathology images predict multi-omics aberrations and prognoses in colorectal cancer patients

Histopathologic assessment is indispensable for diagnosing colorectal cancer (CRC). However, manual evaluation of the diseased tissues under the microscope cannot reliably inform patient prognosis or genomic variations crucial for treatment selections. To address these challenges, we develop the Multi-omics Multi-cohort Assessment (MOMA) platform, an explainable machine learning approach, to systematically identify and interpret the relationship between patients' histologic patterns, multi-omics, and clinical profiles in three large patient cohorts (n = 1888). MOMA successfully predicts the overall survival, disease-free survival (log-rank test P-value<0.05), and copy number alterations of CRC patients. In addition, our approaches identify interpretable pathology patterns predictive of gene expression profiles, microsatellite instability status, and clinically actionable genetic alterations. We show that MOMA models are generalizable to multiple patient populations with different demographic compositions and pathology images collected from distinctive digitization methods. Our machine learning approaches provide clinically actionable predictions that could inform treatments for colorectal cancer patients. Histopathological analysis is an essential tool in diagnosing colorectal cancer, but is limited in predicting prognosis and molecular profiles. Here, the authors designed a machine learning-based platform to predict multi-omics profiles and prognosis from pathology images.

Automated summary

The authors develop a machine learning-based platform, MOMA, to systematically identify and interpret the relationship between patients' histologic patterns, multi-omics, and clinical profiles. MOMA successfully predicts the overall survival, disease-free survival, and copy number alterations of colorectal cancer patients. Additionally, MOMA identifies interpretable pathology patterns predictive of gene expression profiles, microsatellite instability status, and clinically actionable genetic alterations.