A cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tool has been designed to help grade cancer, by analysing cell division.
In numerous cancer types, counting the number of cells undergoing division, known as mitotic figures, serves as a key indicator of cancer aggressiveness, or grade. This information helps inform treatment pathways, making it a crucial task.
Traditional mitosis counting is both time-consuming and plagued by poor reliability. To address this, scientists have developed a new tool, MitPro, which uses AI to count and profile mitosis.
Histofy, a spin-out company from The University of Warwick and a leading developer of AI solutions for pathology, has engineered the tool to accurately profile mitosis throughout the entire tumour sample. This identifies the most suitable areas for further analysis.
The tool enhances the current standard of care for cancer grading and opens new possibilities for large-scale mitosis profiling, leading to better patient management.
Chief Medical Officer at Histofy Professor David Snead, Consultant Pathologist at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) and Professor of Pathology Practice at the University of Warwick, said: “Despite its paramount importance, mitosis assessment can be laborious and suffers from reproducibility issues. We are thrilled to introduce MitPro, a solution that not only improves current practice, but also enables detailed profiling of cell proliferation across the entire tumour.”
Chief Technology Officer at Histofy, Simon Graham said: “AI holds tremendous potential in facilitating better cancer care. MitPro helps to improve current grading systems across a range of cancers by more accurately assessing the rate in which cancer cells are dividing.”
To facilitate the widespread adoption of AI in clinical settings, Histofy is integrating with established pathology image management systems, including Sectra.
More about Histofy
Histofy develops transparent AI solutions for computational pathology to improve the treatment of various diseases, such as cancer. With a focus on tissue-based diagnostics and prognostics, our technology complements pathologists to help deliver better patient care.
With leading research spanning over two decades, our team thoroughly understands the process of technology development, from concept to validation, placing us in prime position to bring cutting-edge AI to clinical and pharmaceutical settings.
Histofy is presently engaged in the validation of MitPro with early adopters of the tool to showcase its practical utility. While the tool is currently designated for research use only, Histofy is currently working towards CE-mark certification under IVDR.
