Reshaping tumor cells may be new way to treat Breast Cancer

Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, UK, describe how they used robotic microscopy and mathematical algorithms - not unlike the algorithms Facebook uses for facial recognition, to assess shape and contextual features of hundreds of thousands of cancer cells.
The study highlights the fact that the body's natural defenses are constantly battling against cancer cells, and there are numerous strategies on both sides of the fight. Health wins when the balance tips one way, disease wins when it tips the other way.
The study shows that the physical shape of a cancer cell can be one of the things that tips the balance in favor of disease, not only by helping it to evade the immune system but even to the point of helping it thrive in response to it.
"Our study shows the crucial importance of a breast cancer cell's shape in how it responds to inflammation, with certain shapes more likely to respond to the body's immune system by activating pro-survival signals." The research suggests that changing the shape of cancer cells, either mechanically, chemically or genetically, could help tip the balance against the tumor by using the inflammatory response in the body's own immune system to fight cancer.
In their work, the team has focused on the activity of a protein called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB), a key player in inflammation. There is a lot of evidence that this protein misbehaves in many cancers, it sends out signals that promote survival of the cell, and that suppressing it stops cancer cells proliferating.
However, the researchers note that while we know a lot about the signaling events surrounding the aberrant behavior of NF-kappaB, we know little about how the physical properties of the cell itself and its environment might affect it.