Machine learning enabled classification of lung cancer cell lines co-cultured with fibroblasts with lightweight convolutional neural network for initial diagnosis.

Background: Identification of lung cancer subtypes is critical for successful treatment in patients, especially those in advanced stages. Many advanced and personal treatments require knowledge of specific mutations, as well as up- and down-regulations of genes, for effective targeting of the cancer cells. While many studies focus on individual cell structures and delve deeper into gene sequencing, the present study proposes a machine learning method for lung cancer classification based on low-magnification cancer outgrowth patterns in a 2D co-culture environment.

Methods: Using a magnetic well plate holder, circular pattern lung cancer cell clusters were generated among fibroblasts, and daily images were captured to monitor cancer outgrowth over a 9-day period. These outgrowth images were then augmented and used to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) model based on the lightweight TinyVGG architecture. The model was trained with pairs of classes representing three subtypes of NSCLC: A549 (adenocarcinoma), H520 (squamous cell carcinoma), and H460 (large cell carcinoma). The objective was to assess whether this lightweight machine learning model could accurately classify the three lung cancer cell lines at different stages of cancer outgrowth. Additionally, cancer outgrowth images of two patient-derived lung cancer cells, one with the KRAS oncogene and the other with the EGFR oncogene, were captured and classified using the CNN model. This demonstration aimed to investigate the translational potential of machine learning-enabled lung cancer classification.

Results: The lightweight CNN model achieved over 93% classification accuracy at 1 day of outgrowth among A549, H460, and H520, and reached 100% classification accuracy at 7 days of outgrowth. Additionally, the model achieved 100% classification accuracy at 4 days for patient-derived lung cancer cells. Although these cells are classified as Adenocarcinoma, their outgrowth patterns vary depending on their oncogene expressions (KRAS or EGFR).

Conclusions: These results demonstrate that the lightweight CNN architecture, operating locally on a laptop without network or cloud connectivity, can effectively create a machine learning-enabled model capable of accurately classifying lung cancer cell subtypes, including those derived from patients, based upon their outgrowth patterns in the presence of surrounding fibroblasts. This advancement underscores the potential of machine learning to enhance early lung cancer subtyping, offering promising avenues for improving treatment outcomes in advanced stage-patients.