Tracing Change

The unerring progress of time brings changes for us all. Staying in control of our lives depends on keeping track of, and adapting to, these changes. Our countless cells busily undergo constant adaptation, which can occasionally bring unwanted results, such as cancer. Cancerous cells change their form and function as the tumour grows and starts to spread (a process called metastasis). Monitoring these changes could help prevent tumour growth and the associated health problems. Researchers have developed a new computational method to assign cancerous cells a ‘score’ based on their physical and genetic status. They analysed breast cancer samples (pictured), and found the structure of cell nuclei (the cell's DNA-containing centre) and the overall orientation of cells (such as the clustered groups around the edges of the masses shown) reflected their cancerous development. These markers can map tumour progress, highlighting when and where to target new treatments.

Today is World Cancer Day

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image from work by Saradha Venkatachalapathy and colleagues
• Mechanobiology Institute and Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Scientific Reports, November 2021