Researchers Take New AI Approach to Analyze Tumors

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab in Sweden have combined artificial intelligence (AI) techniques used in satellite imaging and community ecology to interpret large amounts of data from tumour tissue. The method, presented in the journal Nature Communications, could contribute to more personalised treatment of cancer patients.

While recent advances in tumour imaging provide a great insight into the microscopic world of tumours, the challenge is to interpret the huge amount of data generated. With hundreds of molecules being measured simultaneously in tens or hundreds of thousands of cells, it has become difficult for researchers to know what molecules and cells to focus on.

AI methods can in principle help researchers analyse this avalanche of data and determine what to focus on. However, traditional AI such as deep neural networks often performs tasks without providing clear explanations that are understandable to humans. Details of how the process works are hidden or difficult to access in a so-called black box. The research team at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab recognised the limitations of such methods and sought inspiration from other fields. They identified well-established analysis techniques in satellite imaging and ecology dating back to the 2000s and 1950s, respectively.

Similar to interpreting satellite images

New AI methods are continuously developed to interpret data from satellite images, for example to automatically identify cities, lakes, forests and deserts within large satellite images. In ecology, advanced techniques are used to reveal how species of plants, animals and micro-organisms cohabit as communities within a given geographical area.

"We realised that the interpretation of tumour images is similar to the interpretation of satellite images and that the relationships between cells in a tissue are similar to the relationships between species in ecology," explains Jean Hausser, senior researcher at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, who led the research. "By combining techniques used in satellite imaging and ecology and adapting them for the analysis of tumour tissue, we have now been able to turn complex data into new insights into how cancer works."

Tailor cancer treatments

The next step is to apply the new method in clinical trials. The researchers are collaborating with a major cancer hospital in Lyon, France, to seek answers to why only some patients respond to cancer immunotherapy. In another collaboration with the Mayo Clinic in the US, they are investigating why some breast cancer patients don’t need chemotherapy.

"With our new method, we can reveal important details in tumour tissue that can determine whether a cancer treatment works or not. The long-term goal is to be able to tailor cancer treatments to individual needs and avoid unnecessary side effects," says Jean Hausser.

The research was mainly funded by the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Research Council and SciLifeLab. There are no reported conflicts of interest.

El Marrahi A, Lipreri F, Kang Z, Gsell L, Eroglu A, Alber D, Hausser J.
NIPMAP: niche-phenotype mapping of multiplex histology data by community ecology.
Nat Commun. 2023 Nov 7;14(1):7182. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42878-z

Most Popular Now

Unlocking the 10 Year Health Plan

The government's plan for the NHS is a huge document. Jane Stephenson, chief executive of SPARK TSL, argues the key to unlocking its digital ambitions is to consider what it...

Alcidion Grows Top Talent in the UK, wit…

Alcidion has today announced the addition of three new appointments to their UK-based team, with one internal promotion and two external recruits. Dr Paul Deffley has been announced as the...

AI can Find Cancer Pathologists Miss

Men assessed as healthy after a pathologist analyses their tissue sample may still have an early form of prostate cancer. Using AI, researchers at Uppsala University have been able to...

AI, Full Automation could Expand Artific…

Automated insulin delivery (AID) systems such as the UVA Health-developed artificial pancreas could help more type 1 diabetes patients if the devices become fully automated, according to a new review...

How AI could Speed the Development of RN…

Using artificial intelligence (AI), MIT researchers have come up with a new way to design nanoparticles that can more efficiently deliver RNA vaccines and other types of RNA therapies. After training...

MIT Researchers Use Generative AI to Des…

With help from artificial intelligence, MIT researchers have designed novel antibiotics that can combat two hard-to-treat infections: drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and multi-drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Using generative AI algorithms, the research...

AI Hybrid Strategy Improves Mammogram In…

A hybrid reading strategy for screening mammography, developed by Dutch researchers and deployed retrospectively to more than 40,000 exams, reduced radiologist workload by 38% without changing recall or cancer detection...

New Training Year Starts at Siemens Heal…

In September, 197 school graduates will start their vocational training or dual studies in Germany at Siemens Healthineers. 117 apprentices and 80 dual students will begin their careers at Siemens...

Penn Developed AI Tools and Datasets Hel…

Doctors treating kidney disease have long depended on trial-and-error to find the best therapies for individual patients. Now, new artificial intelligence (AI) tools developed by researchers in the Perelman School...

Are You Eligible for a Clinical Trial? C…

A new study in the academic journal Machine Learning: Health discovers that ChatGPT can accelerate patient screening for clinical trials, showing promise in reducing delays and improving trial success rates. Researchers...

New AI Tool Addresses Accuracy and Fairn…

A team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has developed a new method to identify and reduce biases in datasets used to train machine-learning algorithms...

Global Study Reveals How Patients View M…

How physicians feel about artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine has been studied many times. But what do patients think? A team led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich...