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AI traces mysterious metastatic cancers to their source

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2024-04-17 19:30:13

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A breast cancer cell (artificially coloured) climbs through a supportive film in a laboratory experiment. Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/SPL

Some stealthy cancers remain undetected until they have spread from their source to distant organs. Now scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that outperforms pathologists at identifying the origins of metastatic cancer cells that circulate in the body1. The proof-of-concept model could help doctors to improve the diagnosis and treatment of late-stage cancer, and extend people’s lives.

“That’s a pretty significant finding — that it can be used as an assistive tool,” says Faisal Mahmood, who studies AI applications in health care at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

To treat metastatic cancers, doctors need to know where they came from. The origin of up to 5% of all tumours cannot be identified, and the prognosis for people whose primary cancer remains unknown is poor.