Researchers at IIT-M develop AI-based algorithm to identify cancer-causing alterations

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, on Monday said its research team has developed an Artificial Intelligence based mathematical model to identify cancer-causing alterations in human cells.

The algorithm uses a relatively unexplored technique of leveraging DNA composition to pinpoint genetic alterations that were responsible for progression of cancer, a press release said.

The team was led by professor B Ravindran, head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras and Karthik Raman, faculty member, RBCDSAI, IIT Madras.

''One of the major challenges faced by cancer researchers involves the differentiation between the relatively small number of 'driver' mutations that enable the cancer cells to grow and the large number of passenger mutations that do not have any effect on the progression of the disease'', Ravindran said.

Researchers hope that the driver mutations predicted through their 'mathematical model' would ultimately help discover potentially novel drug targets and advance the notion of prescribing the 'right drug to the right person at the right time'.

''Our model could distinguish between well-studied drivers and passenger mutations from cancer genes with an accuracy of 89 per cent'', Ravindran said.

The next step for the team includes developing an easy- to-use web interface to enable cancer researchers get predictions on preferred set of variants and further studies on the context of the mutations, among others, the release added.