Method for grading the nuclear morphology of a tumor

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of grading the nuclear morphology of a tumor cell. The method may comprise a) culturing the tumor cell on an array comprising a plurality of nanopillars; and b) assessing a deformation pattern of the nucleus, wherein an isotropic deformation indicates low malignancy of the tumor cell, while a linear or anisotropic deformation pattern indicates high malignancy of the tumor cell. In another embodiment, the method comprises determining a nanopillar-induced deformation profile comprising an angular distribution of orientations in a plurality of regions of interests (ROIs) of the image and a coherency in each ROI. The invention also relates to a method of predicting the likelihood of a metastatic cancer or predicting a response of a tumor to a cancer drug in a subject based on assessing the degree of nuclear deformation of a cell sample cultured on the surface comprising a plurality of nanopillars.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.