Researchers said the algorithim behind Netflix monitoring activities can be used to help doctors develop a personalized cancer treatment.
When cancer develops and progresses, researchers use artificial intelligence (AI) to study and categorize the amount and scope of alterations in DNA across the genome - a cell's whole genetic code. Using this information, scientists discovered 21 typical flaws that arise as the illness progresses.
Researchers believe that these flaws, known as copy number signatures, might aid doctors in selecting therapies tailored to the tumor's features.
Doctors believe that one day they will be able to examine a patient's completely sequenced tumor and compare its significant features to the blueprint for genetic flaws, allowing them to provide more individualized cancer therapy, Echo News reported.
Netflix Algorithm May Help Cancer Patients Get Personalize Treatment
When consumers watch Netflix, data is collected regarding the sort of program or film they watch, how often they view it, and whether they give it a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Netflix uses an algorithm to sort through this vast data, detect trends, and propose new movies and TV shows for the future, Study Finds explained
A team of researchers led by Dr. Nischalan Pillay of University College London (UCL) and Dr. Ludmil Alexandrov of the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) created a machine learning tool with algorithim similar to Netflix.
The artificial intelligence (AI) can filter through hundreds of lines of genomic data to find common patterns in how chromosomes are organized and arranged.
According to experts supported by Cancer Research UK and Cancer Grand Challenges, the algorithm can then categorize the patterns that arise and aid scientists in determining the sorts of cancer flaws that can occur.
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Study co-lead author Professor Ludmil Alexandrov from the University of California-San Diego said cancer is a complicated disease. Researchers have shown, however, that the modifications to chromosomes that occur when it begins and how it expands are very similar.
The researchers anticipate that with this knowledge, doctors will be able to provide better and more individualized cancer therapy in the future.
"Just as Netflix can predict which shows you'll choose to binge watch next, we believe that we will be able to predict how your cancer is likely to behave, based on the changes its genome has previously experienced," Alexandrov mentioned in a statement.
"We want to get to the point where doctors can look at a patient's fully sequenced tumor and match the key features of the tumor against our blueprint for genomic faults. Armed with that information, we believe that doctors will be able to offer better and more personalized cancer treatment in the future."
How the Cancer Algorithm Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Works
The scientists used the program to check for similarities in the genomes of 9,873 individuals with 33 different forms of cancer and found 21 common flaws.
These will now be utilized to generate a blueprint for researchers to determine how aggressive cancer will be, identify its weak points, and develop novel therapies.
The scientists discovered that tumors with broken and reformed chromosomes were related to the lowest survival outcomes among the 21 characteristics detected by the system.
The researchers seek to improve the algorithm so physicians can predict how a patient's cancer will behave based on the genetic qualities it obtained when it first appeared and the genetic modifications it acquires as it progresses.
Researchers detailed their study titled "Signatures of copy number alterations in human cancer" in the journal Nature.
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