AI can detect some types of cancer 98% of the time

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. One out of every six deaths in the world is due to this disease. About ten million people lose their lives to cancer every year. The disease is often noticed too late, which greatly complicates treatment. The earlier cancer is detected, the greater the chance of survival.

Searching manually is difficult

New research shows that artificial intelligence can help. Many cancers are characterized by specific forms of DNA methylation, a process in which methyl groups are added to DNA molecules. Methyl groups are small chemical groups consisting of one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms. You can see them as a kind of biological “label” stuck to the DNA.

These marks can turn genes on or off without changing the underlying genetic code, which may affect how cells behave and contribute to cancer development. But methylation also occurs in non-cancerous tissues. It is impossible to manually search for cancer-associated methylation.

DNA methylation “signatures.”

Researchers from the United Kingdom have been able to identify specific “signatures” of DNA methylation using artificial intelligence. AI learns to recognize those signatures in DNA using machine learning techniques.

AI has learned how to detect thirteen different types of cancer. Researchers say this in paper Which was published in the journal Biological Methods and Protocols. She was able to do it correctly 98.2 percent of the time. This technology could make it possible in the future to detect cancer more easily at an early stage.

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