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Scientists have developed a new method of calculation that increases the ability to track the spread of cancer cells from one part of the body to the other.
This cell migration can lead to metastatic disease, which causes about 90% of cancer deaths from solid tumors – mbades of cells that grow in organs such as the bad, prostate or colon.
Understanding the drivers of metastasis could lead to new treatments aimed at blocking the process of cancer spreading through the body.
In a study published in the May issue of Nature Genetics, researchers at Princeton University presented an algorithm. who can track cancer metastasis by integrating DNA sequence data with information on the location of cells in the body.
They call it MACHINA, which means "integrative badysis of metastatic and clonal history".
"Our algorithm allows researchers to infer the past process of metastasis from DNA sequence data obtained at the present time," says Ben Raphael, professor at Princeton.
The technique gives a clearer picture than previous studies using methods based on DNA sequences alone. Some studies have inferred complex migration patterns that did not reflect current knowledge about cancer biology.
"The datasets we receive are very complex, but complex data sets do not always require complex explanations. By simultaneously mapping mutations and cell motions, MACHINA discovered that metastatic disease in some patients could result in a lower number of cell migrations than previously thought.
For example, in a bad cancer patient, a MACHINA suggested that a single secondary tumor in the lung seeded the remaining metastases by only five cell migrations.
In addition to a bad cancer data set, researchers applied their algorithm to badyze metastatic patients with melanoma, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.
Several additional features helped to improve the accuracy of MACHINA. The algorithm includes a model for the co-migration of genetically different cells, based on experimental evidence that tumor cells can travel in clusters to new sites in the body.
This also explains the uncertainty of DNA data from sequencing genetically distinct tumor cell mixtures and healthy cells.
(This story was not edited by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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