Comparative Analysis of Immunohistochemical Staining Intensity Determined by Light Microscopy, ImageJ and QuPath in Placental Hofbauer Cells

Software based analyses of immunohistochemical staining are designed for obtaining quantitative, reproducible, and objective data. However, often times only a certain type of positive cells or structures need to be quantified thus whole image analysis cannot be performed. Such an example is Hofbauer placental cells, which show positivity of some antigens together with trophoblast, but only Hofbauer cells represent the regions of interest (ROIs). Two independent observers evaluated the immunohistochemical staining intensity of Hofbauer cells in placenta samples stained for cytoplasmic antigens by ImageJ, QuPath and light microscopy. Thus, the precise manual determination of ROIs, i.e. Hofbauer cells, was necessary. We detected low inter-observer variability in staining intensity. Almost perfect agreement between observers was reached for ImageJ and QuPath whilst substantial agreement was reached for light microscopy evaluation. As for the comparison of ImageJ, QuPath and light microscopy, the agreement of all three methods (identical immunohistochemical intensity) was achieved for 38.1% samples. The almost perfect agreement of staining intensities was reached between ImageJ and QuPath, and moderate agreement for comparison of the light microscopy to both software. Software analyses are much more time-consuming, thus their utilization is at least questionable to evaluate ROIs with selection.

Automated summary

The study found that there was almost perfect agreement in staining intensity analysis between ImageJ and QuPath when evaluating Hofbauer cells in placenta samples, while substantial agreement was observed for light microscopy evaluation. Additionally, in 38.1% of samples, all three methods (ImageJ, QuPath, and light microscopy) showed identical immunohistochemical intensity.