@article {70023,
	title = {Abstract B049: Deep Learning Enables Identification of Cell Types and Clusters (iCTC) in Immune Tumor Ecosystems for Prognostic Assessment in Cancer},
	journal = {Clinical Cancer Research},
	volume = {31},
	year = {2025},
	month = {2025 Jul 10},
	pages = {B049-B049},
	abstract = {<p>Spatial multiomic profiling has been transforming the understanding of local tumor ecosystems. Yet, the spatial analyses of tumor-immune interactions at systemic levels, such as in liquid biopsies, are challenging. Within the last 10 years, we have longitudinally collected nearly 3,000 patient blood samples for multiplexing imaging of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and their interactions with white blood cells (WBCs). Multicellular CTC clusters exhibit enhanced metastatic potential. The detection of CTCs and characterization of tumor immune ecosystems are constrained by (1) low frequency of CTCs in blood samples; (2) specific lineages of immune cells are not recognized by limited channels of current imaging methods, (3) reliance on labor-intensive manual analysis slows down the discovery of biomarkers for predicting therapy response and survival in cancer patients. We hypothesize that an AI-powered platform will accelerate the lineage and spatial characterization of tumor immune ecosystems for prognostic evaluations.</p>
},
	issn = {1078-0432},
	doi = {10.1158/1557-3265.AIMACHINE-B049},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1158/1557-3265.AIMACHINE-B049},
	author = {Squires, Joshua R. and Sun, Yuanfei and Hoffmann, Andrew D. and Zhang, Youbin and Minor, Allegra C. and Singh, Anmol and Scholten, David and Ding, Hannah and Mao, Chengsheng and Platanias, Leonidas C. and Luo, Yuan and Fang, Deyu and Gradishar, William J. and Cristofanilli, Massimo and Stringer, Carsen and Liu, Huiping}
}
@article {69974,
	title = {Analysis of deep learning for automated recognition of immune cells interacting with CTCs for prognostic assessment in cancer.},
	journal = {Journal of Clinical Oncology},
	volume = {43},
	year = {2025},
	month = {2025 May 28},
	pages = {e13028-e13028},
	abstract = {<p>e13028Background: Liquid biopsy has emerged as a powerful, minimally invasive tool for predicting treatment response and survival in breast and other advanced cancers. However, the detection and characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) {\textemdash} a key factor in metastatic progression{\textemdash}remain challenging due to their low frequency and reliance on manual, time-intensive validation using only a couple of established methods for immunofluorescence staining, such as CellSearch. Harnessing deep learning for automated CTC detection and characterization of the blood cells interacting with CTCs holds the potential to advance prognostic evaluations and guide more effective therapies significantly. Methods: Leveraging FDA-approved CellSearch technology and sequencing approaches, we analyzed 2,853 blood specimens, longitudinally collected from 1358 patients with advanced cancer (breast, prostate, etc) and additional diseases. We built a novel deep learning platform, CTCpose, which integrates machine learning and AI-driven image analysis to automate the detection and categorization of CTCs, white blood cells (WBCs), and their clustering interactions. We extracted cellular and nuclear features to enable precise evaluation of individual CTCs, WBCs, homotypic CTC clusters, heterotypic CTC{\textendash}WBC clusters, and immune cell aggregates. Results: By employing the CTCpose platform, we achieved fully automated identification of CTCs and immune cells, unraveling the spatial organization and functional characteristics of both homotypic and heterotypic clusters. These highly granular assessments revealed clinically significant correlations with patient survival, disease progression, and therapeutic outcomes. Our data underscore the critical role of CTC{\textendash}immune cell interactions and the dynamic shifts in CTC phenotypes{\textemdash}both as single cells and clusters{\textemdash}in stratifying patients by risk and informing treatment strategies. Conclusions: This work illustrates the transformative power of deep learning in the analysis of liquid biopsy samples. By overcoming the limitations of traditional CTC detection, we have established a robust framework that integrates imaging data with large-scale patient cohorts to deliver predictive models of high clinical relevance. The CTCpose platform not only refines our understanding of CTC{\textendash}immune cell biology but also paves the way for personalized oncology approaches, highlighting the impactful convergence of artificial intelligence and precision medicine.</p>
},
	doi = {10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.e13028},
	url = {https://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.e13028},
	author = {Liu, Huiping and Squires, Joshua and Sun, Yuanfei and Hoffmann, Andrew Daniel and Zhang, Youbin and Platanias, Leonidas C. and Gradishar, William John and Cristofanilli, Massimo and Stringer, Carsen}
}
