AI CAN HELP identify breast cancer patients who may benefit from chemotherapy and those who will not, narrowing the pool of patients who need to receive the treatment.
Irish researchers at UCD and the Royal College of Surgeons have identified methods that could reduce the number of people who require chemotherapy, which is often prescribed as a precautionary measure for the treatment of a common form of breast cancer.
Early-stage ER+HER2- breast cancer accounts for around 70% of all diagnoses annually.
Around 3,600 people are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, according to Breast Cancer Ireland. One in seven women will be diagnosed in their lifetime, with one in 728 men also diagnosed.
But while patients are often prescribed chemotherapy in case the disease spreads, the treatment often has debilitating side effects, and may not always be needed for all those who receive it.
“The decision around chemotherapy is often difficult and uncertainty frequently leads to treatment that may not have been necessary, impacting on quality of life,” said Professor Darran O’Connor, the study’s research lead.
Currently, the likelihood of disease spreading within patients is assessed using a risk score; however, the majority receive an intermediate result.
The study, carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) and University College Dublin, used a new AI-based method to analyse immune cells.
The research found that the immune cells in the tissue surrounding a tumour, known as cytotoxic T-cells, were more accurate in defining patient risk than current methods.
Patients with a high cytotoxic T-cell density were found to be less susceptible to chemotherapy, potentially reducing the need for chemotherapy for some patients.
O’Connor added: “Crucially, because this approach works from tissue samples processed as standard, it has the potential to improve both the precision and the equity of treatment for most women with early-stage breast cancer, regardless of where they are treated.”
Further studies will be required before this approach is implemented in practice.
RCSI and UCD have filed a patent for the method, with a view to using the technology in practices across Ireland in the future.