AI tool for personalised cancer diagnosis developed by researchers at IIT Madras

An Artificial Intelligence-based tool that can predict cancer-causing genes in an individual has been developed, paving the way for devising personalised cancer treatment strategies, said researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras on Wednesday.

The tool named 'PIVOT' is designed to predict cancer causing genes based on a model that utilises information on mutations, expression of genes, and copy number variation in genes and perturbations in the biological network due to an altered gene expression.

"Cancer, being a complex disease, cannot be dealt with in a one-treatment-fits-all fashion. As cancer treatment increasingly shifts towards personalised medicine, such models that build toward pinpointing differences between patients can be very useful," said Dr Karthik Raman, Core Member, RBCDSAI, IIT Madras, in a statement.

The tool, described in a peer-reviewed journal Frontier in Genetics, is based on a machine learning model that classifies genes as tumour suppressor genes, oncogenes or neutral genes.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and accounted for nearly one in six deaths in 2020.

Cancer is an uncontrolled growth of cells that can occur due to mutations in oncogenes or by tumour suppressor genes or both. However, not all mutations necessarily result in cancer.

Current cancer treatments are known to be detrimental to the overall health of the patient. Knowledge of the genes responsible for the initiation and progression of cancer in patients can help determine the combination of drugs and therapy most suitable for a patient's recovery.

The new tool was able to successfully predict both the existing oncogenes and tumour-suppressor genes like TP53, and PIK3CA, among others, and new cancer-related genes such as PRKCA, SOX9 and PSMD4.

The researchers built AI prediction models for three different types of cancer including breast invasive carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma.

"The research area of precision medicine is still at a nascent stage. PIVOT helps push these boundaries and presents prospects for experimental research based on the genes identified," said Malvika Sudhakar, Research Scholar, IIT Madras.

The team is planning to extend PIVOT further to many more cancer types. The team is also working on a list of personalised cancer-causing genes that can help in identifying the suitable drug for patients based on their cancer profile.

 

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New imaging tool to track cellular events that may initiate obesity-related conditions

A collaborative team of researchers at Utah State University and the University of Central Florida developed a tool to track cellular events that may lead to obesity-related conditions in people.

The research findings were published Feb. 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team, led by Anhong Zhou, a professor in USU's Department of Biological Engineering, developed a sensing optical imaging nanoprobe that uses scattered light to provide a structural fingerprint for molecules. The probes can be used to more easily identify and illustrate cell surface receptors that can either prompt or stop cellular responses to certain external stimuli. The probes make it possible to monitor multiple surface receptors on an individual cell and provide researchers an unprecedented view of cellular surface activity. Zhou and his team, including the biological engineering PhD student Wei Zhang, applied these novel nanoprobes to successfully detect the cell receptors that recognize fatty acids at the single living cell level.

The technique represents a major step in developing improved understanding of certain cellular events and could have widespread impact on the study of fat intake and the development of obesity. The new method could also be used as a simple screening technique for testing external stimuli that trigger the surface cell receptors and lead to the linking of fatty acids. This would make for an efficient test to ensure that new drugs accurately prompt the correct cellular activities that lead to obesity and other obesity-related conditions. Zhou and his team's work is increasingly relevant as the prevalence of obesity impacts public health in the United States.

 

Zhou says the research represents an exciting collaboration between researchers and aligns well with his belief that biological engineering is an important frontier in the scientific community.

This is an excellent example that fulfills our long-term goal of applying engineering tools to solve biology-driven problems. In the past several years, we have been thrilled to develop new cell-based assay technologies that potentially benefit human health problems like obesity. We are currently extending this technology for developing a new method for early cancer diagnosis."     Anhong Zhou, professor in USU's Department of Biological Engineering

This work was primarily supported by the National Science Foundation.

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Cancer diagnosis may up suicide risk in patients

Cancer patients may be at a significantly increased risk of suicide in the first year following diagnosis, a study has found. The research  points to the importance of screening for suicide risk in newly diagnosed patients and ensuring that patients have access to social and emotional support.

To estimate the risk of suicide within the year after a cancer diagnosis, researchers examined information on cancer patients in a US database between 2000 and 2014. "This is the largest study to assess recent trends in suicide risk after a cancer diagnosis in the US population," said a researcher.

Among the 4,671,989 patients in the analysis, 1,585 committed suicide within one year of their diagnosis. There was a two and a half times higher risk than what would be expected in the general population.

"Awareness among providers to screen for suicide risk and refer to mental health services is important for mitigating such risk and saving lives, especially within the first six months after diagnosis," said a researcher.

"Moreover, family members and caregivers must be trained to provide psychological support for their ill relatives," he said.

When studied according to cancer site, the highest increase in risk was seen following pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. The risk of suicide also increased significantly following a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, but the risk of suicidal death did not increase significantly following breast and prostate cancer diagnoses.

"Both cancer and suicide are leading causes of death and present a major public health challenge. Our study highlights the fact that for some patients with cancer, their mortality will not be a direct result of the cancer itself, but rather because of the stress of dealing with it, culminating in suicide," he said.

"This finding challenges us all to ensure that psycho-social support services are integrated early in cancer care," he said. 

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