一家中国公司如何使用人工智能来研究肝癌

StephenW

How a Chinese firm is using artificial intelligence to zero in on liver cancer

    Genetron Health has developed a technique that detects the disease earlier than other methods


Published: 3:00pm, 31 Mar, 2019

Updated: 3:00pm, 31 Mar, 2019

Liver cancer is generally difficult to detect in its early stages. Photo: HandoutLiver cancer is generally difficult to detect in its early stages. Photo: Handout
Liver cancer is generally difficult to detect in its early stages. Photo: Handout

A Chinese genomics firm says it has found a way to detect liver cancer linked to hepatitis B months before it can be picked up by other methods.

The conclusion was based on a study by Genetron Health and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Cancer Hospital using a method called HCCscreen, which applies artificial intelligence to look for tumour-related mutations in DNA in blood.

The researchers found that the new method could pick up early signs of the cancer in people who had tested negative based on traditional alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and ultrasound examinations.

Genetron Health chief executive Wang Sizhen said early detection was important because it significantly increased the chances of survival.

“The study is a breakthrough in genomics technology and it’s likely to help hepatitis B virus carriers, whose risk of liver cancer is much higher,” Wang said.
The researchers first used AI technology
to identify biomarkers common in known cases of a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma, or HCC.

The team then developed the HCCscreen technique to look for those markers and used it on 331 people with hepatitis B who had tested negative for liver cancer in AFP and ultrasound exams.

Genetron Health chief executive Wang Sizhen says early detection is important because it significantly increases the chances of survival. Photo: SCMP
Genetron Health chief executive Wang Sizhen says early detection is important because it significantly increases the chances of survival.

Twenty-four people tested positive with HCCscreen and were tracked over eight months, with four eventually being diagnosed with early-stage liver cancer.

The four patients had surgery to remove the tumours and the other 20 in the positive group had a second HCCscreen test, with mixed results. Wang said all participants in the group of 20 would continue to be monitored.

“This is the first large-scale prospective study on early diagnosis [of liver cancer],” he said.

The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences earlier this month.

There are about 93 million people with hepatitis B in China and carriers of the virus have a much higher risk of developing liver cancer.
China’s race to test ‘mutation-free’ gene-editing technology on cancer patients

Liver cancer is generally difficult to detect in its early stages, and twice-yearly ultrasounds and AFP tests for the disease are recommended for high-risk groups such as people with hepatitis B virus infections, or cirrhosis – scarring of liver tissue.

But in China, most HCC cases were detected at advanced stage, the authors of the study wrote.

According to the National Cancer Centre, 466,000 people were diagnosed with liver cancer and 422,000 died from the disease in China in 2015.

Wang said the company aimed to commercialise the technology but even then it would take time to ensure it was affordable.

“[High-risk] people need to have regular screening. This is important for public health but the technology must be affordable enough to be widespread,” Wang said. “The ultimate goal of this study is to develop a product that people in China can afford.”

StephenW

一家中国公司如何使用人工智能来研究肝癌

    极冷致健康开发出一种比其他方法更早发现疾病的技术


发布时间：2019年3月31日下午3点

更新时间：2019年3月31日下午3点

肝癌通常很难在早期发现。照片：分发肝癌通常很难在早期发现。照片：讲义
肝癌通常很难在早期发现。照片：讲义

一家中国基因组公司表示，它已经找到了一种方法来检测与乙型肝炎相关的肝癌，然后才能通过其他方法获取。

该结论是基于极冷致健康和中国医学科学院肿瘤医院使用一种名为HCCscreen的方法进行的研究，该方法应用人工智能来寻找血液中DNA中肿瘤相关的突变。

研究人员发现，这种新方法可以在传统的甲胎蛋白（AFP）和超声检查中检测出阴性的患者中发现癌症的早期症状。

极冷致健康首席执行官王思珍表示，早期发现很重要，因为它显着增加了生存机会。

“该研究是基因组学技术的一项突破，它可能有助于乙型肝炎病毒携带者，其患肝癌的风险要高得多，”王说。
研究人员首先使用AI技术
鉴定一种称为肝细胞癌或肝细胞癌的已知肝细胞癌病例中常见的生物标志物。

该团队随后开发了HCCscreen技术，以寻找这些标记，并将其用于治疗AFP和超声检查中肝癌检测阴性的331名乙型肝炎患者。

极冷致健康首席执行官王思珍表示，早期发现非常重要，因为它可以显着提高生存机会。照片：SCMP
极冷致健康首席执行官王思珍表示，早期发现非常重要，因为它可以显着提高生存机会。

二十四人在HCC屏幕检测呈阳性，并追踪了八个月，其中四人最终被诊断为早期肝癌。

4名患者进行了手术切除肿瘤，阳性组中的其他20名患者进行了第二次HCC筛查，结果不一致。王说，20人小组的所有参与者将继续受到监控。

“这是第一个关于[肝癌]早期诊断的大规模前瞻性研究，”他说。

结果发表在本月早些时候的“美国国家科学院院刊”上。

中国约有9300万人患有乙型肝炎，该病毒的携带者患肝癌的风险要高得多。
中国正在试验癌症患者的“无突变”基因编辑技术

肝癌通常很难在早期发现，每年两次的超声检查和AFP检测建议用于高风险人群，如乙型肝炎病毒感染者或肝硬化 - 肝组织瘢痕。

但该研究的作者写道，在中国，大多数HCC病例在晚期被发现。

据国家癌症中心统计，2015年中国有466,000人被诊断患有肝癌，其中有422,000人死于该病。

Wang表示，该公司的目标是将该技术商业化，但即使这样，也需要时间来确保它的价格合理。

“[高风险]人们需要定期进行筛查。这对公共卫生很重要，但技术必须足够普及，才能普及，“王说。 “这项研究的最终目标是开发一种中国人能买得起的产品。”