Cancer imaging articles from across Nature Portfolio

By combining multiple MRI sequences, each providing different but complementary information about the tumour microenvironment (TME), multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) enables non-invasive assessment of the heterogeneous features of the TME components. The authors of this Review describe the role of mpMRI in the non-invasive characterization of the TME, presenting examples of its utility in cancer detection, staging and assessment of response to therapy, and considering future applications for personalized integrated diagnostics.

Ferroptosis induction is a promising new therapeutic strategy for advanced prostate cancer. In this Perspective, the authors discuss the interplay between ferroptosis and metabolism. Current efforts to target ferroptosis and combination therapies in prostate cancer, as well as emerging methods to monitor this process in patients, are also discussed.

A recent study reported the development and validation of the Liver Artificial Intelligence Diagnosis System (LiAIDS), a fully automated system that integrates deep learning for the diagnosis of liver lesions on the basis of contrast-enhanced CT scans and clinical information. This tool improved diagnostic precision, surpassed the accuracy of junior radiologists (and equalled that of senior radiologists) and streamlined patient triage. These advances underscore the potential of artificial intelligence to enhance hepatology care, although challenges to widespread clinical implementation remain.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Xiwen Tang describes the development of in vivo reporters detecting mutant p53 at the protein level, which enables the visualization of precancerous cells during cancer initiation.

Multiplexed spatial immunophenotyping has advanced our understanding of tissues in the context of homeostasis and disease. Two studies now provide additional tools to overcome challenges with multiplexed imaging: one procedure amplifies the detection of low-abundance antigens by integrating SABER and IMC technologies, and the other is an X-ray-based method that enables the non-destructive multiplexed detection of antigens in tissues at scalable resolution and speed.

In this Tools of the Trade article, Yuan Ma describes the development and use of ARPLA, a spatial imaging tool that can be used to visualize glycoRNAs in single cells, including cancer cells in situ.