Extreme wrinkling of the nuclear lamina is a morphological marker of cancer

Nuclear atypia is a hallmark of cancer. A recent model posits that excess surface area, visible as folds/wrinkles in the lamina of a rounded nucleus, allows the nucleus to take on diverse shapes with little mechanical resistance. Whether this model is applicable to normal and cancer nuclei in human tissues is unclear. We image nuclear lamins in patient tissues and find: (a) nuclear laminar wrinkles are present in control and cancer tissue but are obscured in hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) images, (b) nuclei rarely have a smooth lamina, and (c) wrinkled nuclei assume diverse shapes. Deep learning reveals the presence of extreme nuclear laminar wrinkling in cancer tissues, which is confirmed by Fourier analysis. These data support a model in which excess surface area in the nuclear lamina enables nuclear shape diversity in vivo. Extreme laminar wrinkling is a marker of cancer, and imaging the lamina may benefit cancer diagnosis.