New AI 'shapeshift' test identifies women with 'very high risk' ovarian cancer - The Institute of Cancer Research, London

Scientists have developed a new test that scans the shapes of tumour cells to pick out women with especially aggressive ovarian cancer, so treatment can be tailored to their needs. A team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that looks for clusters of cells within tumours with misshapen nuclei – the control centres within each cell. Women identified with these clusters of shapeshifting cells had extremely aggressive disease – with only 15 per cent surviving for five years or more, compared with 53 per cent for other patients with the disease. The researchers found that having misshapen nuclei was an indication that the DNA of cancer cells had become unstable – and believe it could in future help doctors to select the best treatment for each patient. Cancers with misshapen cell nuclei had hidden weaknesses in their ability to repair DNA, which could make them susceptible to drugs called PARP inhibitors or platinum chemotherapy.