Nondestructive 3D Pathology with Light-Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy for Translational Research and Clinical Assays
- Annu Rev Anal Chem (Palo Alto Calif). 2023 Jun 14;16(1):231-252. doi: 10.1146/annurev-anchem-091222-092734.
- 1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA; email: [email protected].
- 2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
- 3. Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
- 4. Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics, Seattle, Washington, USA.
- 5. Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
- 6. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
In recent years, there has been a revived appreciation for the importance of spatial context and morphological phenotypes for both understanding disease progression and guiding treatment decisions. Compared with conventional 2D histopathology, which is the current gold standard of medical diagnostics, nondestructive 3D pathology offers researchers and clinicians the ability to visualize orders of magnitude more tissue within their natural volumetric context. This has been enabled by rapid advances in tissue-preparation methods, high-throughput 3D microscopy instrumentation, and computational tools for processing these massive feature-rich data sets. Here, we provide a brief overview of many of these technical advances along with remaining challenges to be overcome. We also speculate on the future of 3D pathology as applied in translational investigations, preclinical drug development, and clinical decision-support assays.