MetaGate: Interactive analysis of high-dimensional cytometry data with metadata integration.

Ask, Eivind Heggernes; Tschan-Plessl, Astrid; Hoel, Hanna Julie; Kolstad, Arne; Holte, Harald; Malmberg, Karl-Johan · Patterns (N Y) · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Flow cytometry is a powerful technology for high-throughput protein quantification at the single-cell level. Technical advances have substantially increased data complexity, but novel bioinformatical tools often show limitations in statistical testing, data sharing, cross-experiment comparability, or clinical data integration. We developed MetaGate as a platform for interactive statistical analysis and visualization of manually gated high-dimensional cytometry data with integration of metadata. MetaGate provides a data reduction algorithm based on a combinatorial gating system that produces a small, portable, and standardized data file. This is subsequently used to produce figures and statistical analyses through a fast web-based user interface. We demonstrate the utility of MetaGate through a comprehensive mass cytometry analysis of peripheral blood immune cells from 28 patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma along with 17 healthy controls. Through MetaGate analysis, our study identifies key immune cell population changes associated with disease progression.