Zooming in on breast cancer reveals how mutations shape the tumour landscape

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 15:40:21 +0000

An international team of scientists, brought together by a 拢20 million Grand Challenge award from Cancer Research UK, has developed intricate maps of breast tumour samples, with a resolution smaller than a single cell.

These maps show how the complex cancer landscape, made up of cancer cells, immune cells and connective tissue, varies between and within tumours, depending on their genetic makeup.

This technique could one day provide doctors with an unparalleled wealth of information about each patient鈥檚 tumour upon diagnosis, allowing them to match each patient with the best course of treatment for them.

In the future, it could also be used to analyse tumours during treatment, allowing doctors to see in unprecedented detail how tumours are responding to drugs or radiotherapy. They could then modify treatments accordingly, to give each patient the best chance of beating the disease.

Dr Raza Ali, lead author of the study and junior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: 鈥淎t the moment, doctors only look for a few key markers to understand what type of breast cancer someone has. But as we enter an era of personalised medicine, the more information we have about a patient鈥檚 tumour, the more targeted and effective we can make their treatment.鈥� 聽

探花直播researchers studied 483 different tumour samples, collected as part of the Cancer Research UK funded METABRIC study, a project that has already revolutionised our understanding of the disease by revealing that there are at least 11 different subtypes of breast cancer.

探花直播team looked within the samples for the presence of 37 key proteins, indicative of the characteristics and behaviour of cancer cells. Using a technique called imaging mass cytometry, they produced detailed images, which revealed precisely how each of the 37 proteins were distributed across the tumour.

探花直播researchers then combined this information with vast amounts of genetic data from each patient鈥檚 sample to further enhance the image resolution. This is the first time imaging mass cytometry has been paired with genomic data.

These tumour 鈥榖lueprints鈥� expose the distribution of different types of cells, their individual characteristics and the interactions between them.

By matching these pictures of tumours to clinical information from each patient, the team also found that the technique could be used to predict how someone鈥檚 cancer might progress and respond to different treatments.

Professor Carlos Caldas, co-author of the study from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e shown that the effects of mutations in cancer are far more wide-ranging than first thought.

鈥淭hey affect how cancer cells interact with their neighbours and other types of cell, influencing the entire structure of the tumour.鈥�

探花直播research was funded by Cancer Research UK鈥檚 Grand Challenge initiative. By providing international, multidisciplinary teams with 拢20 million grants, this initiative aims to solve the biggest challenges in cancer.

Dr David Scott, director of Grand Challenge at Cancer Research UK said: 鈥淭his team is making incredible advances, helping us to peer into a future when breast cancer treatments are truly personalised.

鈥淭here鈥檚 still a long way to go before this technology reaches patients, but with further research and clinical trials, we hope to unlock its powerful potential.鈥�

Reference:
H. Raza Ali et al. 'Imaging mass cytometry and multi-platform genomics define the phenogenomic landscape of breast cancer.' Nature Cancer (2020). DOI:聽10.1038/s43018-020-0026-6

Adapated from a Cancer Research UK press release.

Scientists have created one of the most detailed maps of breast cancer ever achieved, revealing how genetic changes shape the physical tumour landscape, according to research funded published in Nature Cancer.

We鈥檝e shown that the effects of mutations in cancer are far more wide-ranging than first thought

Carlos Caldas

H. Raza Ali

Molecular map of a breast tumour

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Immune cells found near tumours boost breast cancer survival

fpjl2 — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 09:36:41 +0000

探花直播researchers looked for an immune cell called a killer T cell which specialises in destroying rogue cells in the body, such as cancer cells.

探花直播Cancer Research UK study found that when these immune cells were present, survival improved for women with ER-negative and ER-positive HER2-postive breast cancer. However, survival didn鈥檛 change for women with ER-positive HER2-negative breast cancer.

Study author, Dr Raza Ali, National Institute for Health Research clinical lecturer at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, 探花直播 of Cambridge, said: 鈥淐ancer often finds ways to escape the immune system, but helping immune cells to recognise cancer as a threat - and attack it - provides a promising and powerful avenue for new treatments. We鈥檝e shown that women who have killer T cells present at the site of their tumour are likely to live longer.

鈥淭his important insight could help doctors personalise a woman鈥檚 treatment based on her immunological profile and also suggests that new treatments should harness the immune system to fight cancer.鈥�

Immune cells were counted and analysed from samples collected from 12,439 breast cancer patients from four different studies across England and Canada*.

探花直播research, published today in the journal Annals of Oncology, shows that infiltration into the tumour by killer T cells flags up how certain patients should be treated. 探花直播finding also suggests that chemotherapy could be given alongside immunotherapy drugs. Chemotherapy treatment such as doxorubicin in particular may be enhanced when killer T cells are present.

Professor Carlos Caldas, senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, 探花直播 of Cambridge, said: 鈥� 探花直播more we learn about how precisely the immune system interacts with breast cancer the better we are able to fine tune the treatments we give to patients - and the sooner we can save more lives.

鈥淭his was the largest ever study of its type looking at data from over 12,000 patients. Crucial research such as this is only possible due to the collaboration available at the Cambridge Cancer Centre, a partnership between Cancer Research UK, the 探花直播 of Cambridge and Addenbrooke鈥檚 Hospital.鈥�

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK鈥檚 chief clinician, said: 鈥淭his research highlights the great strides we are making in understanding the complex interplay between cancer and the body鈥檚 immune system. These studies are key to informing how we are best able to treat patients in the clinic and to design better drugs that make the best use of the body鈥檚 own defences.鈥�

Women with breast cancer are 10 per cent more likely to survive for five years or more if they have certain immune cells near their tumour, according to new research.

探花直播more we learn about how precisely the immune system interacts with breast cancer the better we are able to fine tune the treatments

Carlos Caldas

Alex Ritter/Gillian Griffiths

Killer T-cell

**Data were collected from three different observational studies including from East Anglia, Nottingham and British Columbia Canada as well as a randomised control trial known as the NEAT trial.

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探花直播 of Cambridge - Raza Ali

Zooming in on breast cancer reveals how mutations shape the tumour landscape

Immune cells found near tumours boost breast cancer survival