Image Descriptors of Transformed Foci in BALB/c 3T3 Cell transformation Assay: a Statistical Analysis

The prediction of the carcinogenic potential for humans still relies, at regulatory level, on life-time bioassays in rodents, extremely costly in terms of time, animal used and trained personnel hours. Among the proposed alternatives to the animal bioassay for human carcinogenicity prediction, the in vitro cell transformation assays (CTAs) have shown to model important stages of in vivo carcinogenesis and have the potential to predict carcinogenicity in humans. The endpoint of the CTA is focus formation (colony of transformed cells), and requires classification under light microscopy based on morphology. Thus current limitations for the wide adoption of the assay partially depend on a fair degree of subjectivity in foci scoring. Following the suggestion by EURL ECVAM (ECVAM, 2012), the aim of this study was to develop statistical descriptors which represent eye-scored morphological features adopted to classify transformed foci of BALB/c 3T3 CTA in a quantitative way through digital image processing.