Researchers led by Leipzig University have found a application in oncology for the scientific field of Physics of Cancer. This is a milestone for the new research field, proving its clinical relevance for the first time. Based on tissue and cell mechanics and using machine learning, the team developed a marker for cancer cell motility in digital pathology.
The marker delivers new information about breast tumors that will improve the ability to predict the risk of metastasis, even after a decade has passed. The researchers have just published their new findings in the journal Physical Review X.
In a retrospective study of 1,380 female breast cancer patients, conducted in close collaboration with Professor Axel Niendorf from the Pathologie Hamburg-West institute, doctoral researcher Pablo Gottheil from the research group led by Professor Josef Alfons Käs at Leipzig University found that a collective transition of cancer cells to motility, known in specialist circles as “unjamming,” significantly increases the risk of distant metastases.
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