Special Issue "Unlocking the Potential of AI and Big Data in Cancer Research: Advances and Applications"

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Informatics and Big Data".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2023 | Viewed by 1235

Special Issue Editors

1. Division of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy
2. Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale (UPO), Via Solaroli 17, 28100 Novara, Italy
Interests: radiotherapy; artificial intelligence; machine learning; process mining; radiomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Radiotherapy, European Institute of Oncology (IEO) IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy
Interests: urological malignancies; radiation oncology; new fractionation protocols; treatment accuracy; patient’s quality of life; prognostic and predictive factors; SBRT hypofractionation; oligometastatic disease
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

AI and big data have the potential to revolutionize cancer research by providing new insights and enabling more accurate diagnoses and treatments supported by an increasing number of data. The sheer volume of data generated by modern medical technology, such as that in the field of omics sciences, presents a unique opportunity to apply advanced machine learning techniques to uncover previously hidden patterns and relationships.

By analyzing large amounts of data from imaging scans and other diagnostic tests, machine learning algorithms can be trained to identify subtle signs of disease that may be missed by human radiologists and pathologists. This can lead to earlier diagnoses and better outcomes for patients.

Another area where AI and big data can play a role is in the development of personalized medicine. Furthermore, by analyzing large amounts of data from patient records and genomic sequencing, AI algorithms can identify patterns and markers that are unique to an individual patient. This information can be used to tailor treatment plans to the specific needs of each patient, leading to more effective and less toxic therapies.

Big data can also be used to improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of cancer, which can help in the discovery of new targets for drug development. By analyzing large amounts of data from patient records, genomic sequencing, and preclinical studies, researchers can identify new potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers.

This Special Issue will focus on the latest developments and applications of AI and big data in cancer research, highlighting the potential of these technologies to improve patient outcomes and accelerate the discovery of new treatments.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • The use of AI and machine learning algorithms for the early detection of cancer from imaging scans and diagnostic tests;     
  • Personalized medicine and precision oncology using AI-driven analysis of patient records and genomic data;
  • Identifying new therapeutic targets and biomarkers for cancer using big data analysis;
  • AI-assisted drug discovery and development using large-scale data analysis of preclinical studies;
  • Predictive modeling and risk assessment of cancer using AI and big data;
  • The ethical and societal implications of using AI and big data in cancer research and treatment;
  • The use of AI and big data in clinical trials, including patient selection, drug dosing, and trial design;
  • Integrating AI and big data with electronic health records (EHRs) to improve patient outcomes and care coordination;
  • The use of AI and big data for real-time monitoring and surveillance of cancer patients to detect early signs of recurrence or resistance to treatment;
  • Developing and evaluating AI-driven decision support systems for cancer diagnosis and treatment planning.

Dr. Federico Mastroleo
Dr. Giulia Marvaso
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • oncology
  • artificial intelligence
  • machine learning
  • radiology
  • radiotherapy
  • genomics
  • transcriptomics
  • data analysis
  • data science
  • deep learning
  • autosegmentation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Predicting Lymph Node Metastasis Status from Primary Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Histology Slides Using Deep Learning: A Retrospective Multicenter Study
Cancers 2023, 15(11), 3000; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15113000 - 31 May 2023
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Abstract
Background: Accurate prediction of lymph node metastasis (LNM) status in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) before radical cystectomy can guide the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the extent of pelvic lymph node dissection. We aimed to develop and validate a weakly-supervised deep [...] Read more.
Background: Accurate prediction of lymph node metastasis (LNM) status in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) before radical cystectomy can guide the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the extent of pelvic lymph node dissection. We aimed to develop and validate a weakly-supervised deep learning model to predict LNM status from digitized histopathological slides in MIBC. Methods: We trained a multiple instance learning model with an attention mechanism (namely SBLNP) from a cohort of 323 patients in the TCGA cohort. In parallel, we collected corresponding clinical information to construct a logistic regression model. Subsequently, the score predicted by the SBLNP was incorporated into the logistic regression model. In total, 417 WSIs from 139 patients in the RHWU cohort and 230 WSIs from 78 patients in the PHHC cohort were used as independent external validation sets. Results: In the TCGA cohort, the SBLNP achieved an AUROC of 0.811 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.771–0.855), the clinical classifier achieved an AUROC of 0.697 (95% CI, 0.661–0.728) and the combined classifier yielded an improvement to 0.864 (95% CI, 0.827–0.906). Encouragingly, the SBLNP still maintained high performance in the RHWU cohort and PHHC cohort, with an AUROC of 0.762 (95% CI, 0.725–0.801) and 0.746 (95% CI, 0.687–0.799), respectively. Moreover, the interpretability of SBLNP identified stroma with lymphocytic inflammation as a key feature of predicting LNM presence. Conclusions: Our proposed weakly-supervised deep learning model can predict the LNM status of MIBC patients from routine WSIs, demonstrating decent generalization performance and holding promise for clinical implementation. Full article
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Article
Excitement and Concerns of Young Radiation Oncologists over Automatic Segmentation: A French Perspective
Cancers 2023, 15(7), 2040; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15072040 - 29 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 588
Abstract
Introduction: Segmentation of organs at risk (OARs) and target volumes need time and precision but are highly repetitive tasks. Radiation oncology has known tremendous technological advances in recent years, the latest being brought by artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the advantages brought by AI [...] Read more.
Introduction: Segmentation of organs at risk (OARs) and target volumes need time and precision but are highly repetitive tasks. Radiation oncology has known tremendous technological advances in recent years, the latest being brought by artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the advantages brought by AI for segmentation, some concerns were raised by academics regarding the impact on young radiation oncologists’ training. A survey was thus conducted on young french radiation oncologists (ROs) by the SFjRO (Société Française des jeunes Radiothérapeutes Oncologues). Methodology: The SFjRO organizes regular webinars focusing on anatomical localization, discussing either segmentation or dosimetry. Completion of the survey was mandatory for registration to a dosimetry webinar dedicated to head and neck (H & N) cancers. The survey was generated in accordance with the CHERRIES guidelines. Quantitative data (e.g., time savings and correction needs) were not measured but determined among the propositions. Results: 117 young ROs from 35 different and mostly academic centers participated. Most centers were either already equipped with such solutions or planning to be equipped in the next two years. AI segmentation software was mostly useful for H & N cases. While for the definition of OARs, participants experienced a significant time gain using AI-proposed delineations, with almost 35% of the participants saving between 50–100% of the segmentation time, time gained for target volumes was significantly lower, with only 8.6% experiencing a 50–100% gain. Contours still needed to be thoroughly checked, especially target volumes for some, and edited. The majority of participants suggested that these tools should be integrated into the training so that future radiation oncologists do not neglect the importance of radioanatomy. Fully aware of this risk, up to one-third of them even suggested that AI tools should be reserved for senior physicians only. Conclusions: We believe this survey on automatic segmentation to be the first to focus on the perception of young radiation oncologists. Software developers should focus on enhancing the quality of proposed segmentations, while young radiation oncologists should become more acquainted with these tools. Full article
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