The powerful potential of nano technologies and AI to detect oral cancer earlier and more accurately have been revealed by a team in New Zealand.
Researchers from the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka combined atomic force microscopy (AFM) with artificial intelligence (AI) to detect changes in cancer cells at a very small scale.
“Combining the two technologies enabled us to detect nanoscale changes on the surface of cancer cells that may not be visible using traditional methods,” senior author A/Prof Peter Mei said.
“This enhances the accuracy and reliability of cancer diagnosis, potentially enabling earlier detection, which is critical for improving patient treatment outcomes and advancing precision medicine.”
For the study, published in ACS Nano, the researchers were driven by the crucial need to find better, more reliable ways to detect cancer.
The World Cancer Research Fund reported about 390,000 new cases of mouth and oral cancer globally, resulting in more than 188,000 deaths, in 2022.
“We would like to see efforts to make AFM technology more suitable for routine clinical testing,” lead author Dr Simon Guan said.
“We hope it will lead to quicker, more accurate cancer diagnoses, for a variety of cancers, and better treatment options for patients.
“Furthermore, our findings may pave the way for a new cancer therapy based on the nanophysical properties of cancer cells.”
