The Role Of AI in Cancer Drug Discovery: Accelerating Cancer Treatment Methods

by Natasha Bhatt / May 11, 2024

Scientists at UC San Diego have made a huge advancement by revealing POLYGON,  a cutting edge AI tool, that can revolutionize the field of cancer medication research in the future. Their research highlights how AI is a major advancement in the identification of potential medication candidates that was previously limited because of time and complexity. 

POLYGON is a drug discovery method which has exceptional capacity to identify compounds with numerous targets, which cannot happen now with the traditional methods used today that typically prioritize single target therapies. Scientists are focusing on the multi target methods because that can minimize the potential side effects and maximize the therapeutic efficacy without excessive burden. 

“The rare few multi-target drugs we do have were discovered largely by chance, but this new technology could help take chance out of the equation and kickstart a new generation of precision medicine.” states senior author Trey Ideker. The UC San Diego Team, led by renowned bioengineering, computer science and medicine expert Trey Ideker sees POLYGON as a keystone for the new age in precision medicine. Instead of merely making scientific advances, Ideker wants to reduce the influence of chance in drug development and strive for individualized patient specific therapies. 

The POLYGON approach is both innovative and highly advanced. Having been trained on an extensive database including more than a million bioactive molecules, the algorithm harnesses machine learning to generate unique chemical formulas for promising therapies. The algorithm manipulates molecules to interact with specific illness proteins by identifying patterns in data. 

The capabilities of the POLYGON were confirmed with the effectiveness of the medications that target MEK1 and mTOR proteins–important in cancer biology. This has raised hopes for their potential as cancer therapies in the future. Scientists at UCSD underline that POLYGON will enhance human knowledge with AI speeding up parts of the drug discovery processes. They believe that POLYGON will have significant influence in the field of cancer treatment in future.

Citations:

Martin, M. (2024, May 6). Simulated chemistry: New ai platform designs Tomorrow’s cancer drugs. Simulated Chemistry: New AI Platform Designs Tomorrow’s Cancer Drugs. https://today.ucsd.edu/story/simulated-chemistry-new-ai-platform-designs-tomorrows-cancer-drugs