Deep learning assessment of senescence-associated nuclear morphologies in mammary tissue from healthy female donors to predict future risk of breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study

Cellular senescence has been associated with cancer as either a barrier mechanism restricting autonomous cell proliferation or a tumour-promoting microenvironmental mechanism that secretes proinflammatory paracrine factors. With most work done in non-human models and the heterogeneous nature of senescence, the precise role of senescent cells in the development of cancer in humans is not well understood. Furthermore, more than 1 million non-malignant breast biopsies are taken every year that could be a major resource for risk stratification. We aimed to explore the clinical relevance for breast cancer development of markers of senescence in mammary tissue from healthy female donors.