NEW HOPE
‘Pivotal’ prostate cancer discovery using AI ‘could save thousands of lives’ and ‘revolutionise how disease is treated’
The disease affects one in eight blokes and is the most common cancer in men
SCIENTISTS may be able to save thousands of lives after discovering there are two subtypes of prostate cancer.
Artificial intelligence helped British researchers make the breakthrough, which could lead to better tailored treatments for one in eight men that are affected by the disease.
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A study analysed tumour samples from 159 patients to see how their DNA changed over time.
Professor Colin Cooper, of the University of East Anglia, said: “This study is really important because until now, we thought that prostate cancer was just one type of disease.
“But it is only now, with advancements in artificial intelligence, that we have been able to show that there are actually two different subtypes at play.
“We hope that the findings will not only save lives through better diagnosis and tailored treatments in the future, but they may help researchers working in other cancer fields better understand other types of cancer too.”
Read more on prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in British men, with 52,300 new cases spotted and 12,000 deaths a year.
Symptoms usually do not appear until the prostate has become so large it affects the bladder, leading to needing to pee more regularly or straining when you do so.
There is no screening programme in the UK but patients with symptoms are encouraged to go to their GP.
They may perform a digital rectal examination or offer a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, although these are controversial because they can be unreliable.
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If either of these tests pick up signs of the disease, an MRI scan is usually performed before patients are given biopsies to confirm the cancer.
Previous research has shown AI software could cut NHS waiting lists by analysing MRI scans and spotting the disease more accurately.
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In the latest study, published in Cell Genomics, researchers used it to analyse whole genome sequences from prostate cancer patients.
They identified two distinct cancer groups in these patients using an AI technique called neural networks.
These were termed “evotypes” and could see prostate cancer patients given different treatments depending on what type they have in future, experts said.
These results could be the beginning of us being able to take the same ‘divide and conquer’ approach to prostate cancer that has worked in other diseases, such as breast cancer
Dr Naomi Elster
Dr Dan Woodcock, of the University of Oxford, said: “Our research demonstrates that prostate tumours evolve along multiple pathways, leading to two distinct disease types.
“This understanding is pivotal as it allows us to classify tumours based on how the cancer evolves rather than solely on individual gene mutations or expression patterns.”
Dr Naomi Elster, of Prostate Cancer Research, said: “We simply don’t know enough about what a prostate cancer diagnosis means at present.
“There are many men who have disease which is or may become aggressive and being able to treat aggressive disease more effectively is critical.
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“But on the other side of the coin, there are too many men who live with side effects of cancer treatment they may never have needed.
“These results could be the beginning of us being able to take the same ‘divide and conquer’ approach to prostate cancer that has worked in other diseases, such as breast cancer.”
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Symptoms of prostate cancer can include:
- needing to pee more frequently, often during the night
- needing to rush to the toilet
- difficulty in starting to pee (hesitancy)
- straining or taking a long time while peeing
- weak flow
- feeling that your bladder has not emptied fully
- blood in urine or blood in semen
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