The shape of breast cancer cells may provide important clues to genetic changes in the disease, researchers report today.
Dr Chris Bakal, of the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK, and colleagues analysed the cell shapes in millions of images of 307,643 breast cancer cells and information on 28,376 different genes.
Their analysis indicated that cell shape changes, often caused by physical pressure on the tumour, are converted into changes in gene activity.
They went in to create a ‘map’ linking the shape of breast cancer cells to genes turned on and off. This was validated in real disease outcomes.
The team believe this work could eventually help predict which treatments will be most effective for each individual patient. Full details are published in Genome Research.
"Our study reveals an exciting link between the forces that act on cancer cells and the development of the disease," says Dr Bakal. "We used ‘big data’ approaches to carry out a complex analysis that would once have taken decades, in a matter of months.
"The maps we’ve created of cell shapes and their effects on gene activity provide important pointers to new forms of cancer treatment, and ways of making existing therapies more effective."
Professor Karen Vousden, of Cancer Research UK, added: "Understanding the links between how a breast cancer looks and acts, alongside its genetic makeup, will help researchers develop a more detailed picture of the disease.
"The insights and approaches used in this research could one day lead to us being able to tell from appearance, how aggressive someone’s cancer is and how likely to spread, helping doctors decide the best course of treatment."
Sailem, H, Z. et al. Identification of clinically predictive metagenes that encode components of a network coupling cell shape to transcription by image-omics. Genome Research 1 February 2017; doi: 10.1101/gr.202028.115
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