N2CR members, A/Prof Edward Chow and Dr Anand Jeyasekharan have found a method to create a more personalized combination of drugs for their cancer patients. Both doctors, who are principal investigators in Precision Cancer Medicine in the N2CR translational research programme, use a digital medicine platform called Quadratic Phenotypic Optimisation Platform (QPOP) to formulate these combinations.
Dr Anand Jeyasekharan (left) with A/Prof Edward Chow
Using the QPOP platform, a sample of the patient’s cancerous tissue is incubated with the various drug combinations to predict which combinations would be the most effective. Driven by robots and artificial intelligence, QPOP was able to accomplish the task in several days, which would have been impossible through manual tests.
The efficiency with which these individualized predictions are generated give the patients and their families more time together and more treatments options beyond the standard line of therapy. Currently, QPOP is only being used for patients with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The next step would be to use it to generate therapeutic predictions for other cancers and expand the drugs in the assay to include immunotherapy drugs.
Click on the links below to read more about this groundbreaking work
- https://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna-insider/lab-bespoke-drug-treatments-ai-nus-medicine-researchers-cancer-patients-3075161
- https://www.precisiononcologynews.com/cancer/tumor-analysis-platform-predicts-personalized-drug-combos-non-hodgkin-lymphoma-patients#.Y38IwXZBw2w
- https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ai-platform-that-suggests-drug-cocktail-for-patients-with-relapsed-lymphoma-to-undergo-clinical-trial-soon?fbclid=IwAR0Qyj2GhfET4rSpG2loEQpKDZ95cstJODBYIV3-YsJ-CpmPSZuDZtAilMM
- https://news.nus.edu.sg/qpop-effective-in-personalising-drug-combinations-to-treat-relapsed-lymphoma/
