Alton Brad Farris III, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Since the frequency of VCAs is increasing in both animal models and in human patients, characterization of the histologic changes in these subjects will be very important. Tools for the acquisition and analysis of whole slide images (WSIs) of histology slides have recently become more readily available. These WSIs can be used to for routine histology, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence. These tools are gaining widespread use in a variety of disciplines and have been very useful in the transplantation field. These tools will also be very useful for slides stained with techniques that have recently become available, notably quantum dot technology, which allows the staining of multiple antigens on the same slide. This quantum dot technology, when scanned as WSIs, will allow the analysis of coexpression of multiple antigens, effectively accomplishing analysis analogous to flow cytometry on the tissue level, concurrently providing both architectural and molecular expression data. These methods will be particularly useful in analyzing the results of the emerging field of VCAs and will provide an objective assessment of the changes present, providing evaluations that can be directly related to therapy and outcome.