The Daily Telegraph

AI can predict how cancers will evolve

- By Daily Telegraph Reporter

SCIENTISTS have used artificial intelligen­ce to predict how cancers will progress and evolve, a method which could help doctors design the most effective treatment for each patient.

A team led by the Institute of Cancer Research London and the University of Edinburgh developed a new technique known as Revolver (Repeated evolution of cancer), which picks out patterns in DNA mutation within cancers and uses the informatio­n to forecast future genetic changes.

The ever-changing nature of tumours is one of the biggest challenges in treating cancer – with cancers often evolving to a drug-resistant form.

If doctors can predict how a tumour will evolve, they could intervene earlier to stop the cancer before it has had a chance to develop resistance, increasing the patient’s chances of survival.

The study is published in the journal Nature Methods.

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