A new analysis led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has revealed detailed 3D maps of the internal structures of multiple tumor types. These cancer atlases reveal how different tumor cells—and the cells of a tumor's surrounding environment—are organized, in 3D, and how that organization changes when a tumor spreads to other organs.
The detailed findings offer scientists valuable blueprints of tumors that could lead to new approaches to therapy and spark a new era in the field of cancer biology, according to the researchers. The study is part of a group of 12 papers published Oct. 30 in the Nature suite of journals by members of the Human Tumor Atlas Network .
The 3D analysis— published in Nature —includes detailed data about breast, colorectal, pancreas, kidney, uterine and bile duct cancers. The last decade of cancer research has been defined by tremendous advances in understanding the activities of cells in a tumor's environment—both the cancer itself and its support cells, including at a single-cell level. The new study begins to reveal not just what each cell is up to, but also where each cell is located in the intact tumor and how each interacts with its neighboring cells, whether those cells are next door, down the street or in a completely different neighborhood.
This new information could help scientists understand how tumors spread or develop treatment resistance , to name a few intensive areas of ongoing study. "These .
