AI’s Potential Role in Pediatric Brain Tumour Treatment Explored

Researchers are investigating how artificial intelligence could assist in identifying novel treatments for children diagnosed with brain tumours. Although considered rare, approximately 420 children in the UK receive a brain cancer diagnosis each year. The team from the Cancer Research UK Children’s Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence in Cambridge will also focus on strategies to enhance survival rates. Currently, young patients with the most aggressive forms of the disease typically do not survive beyond a year. Dr. Elizabeth Cooper, one of the researchers engaged in the project, noted that a child’s brain tumour differs from an adult tumour. She stated, “The brain changes all the time when kids are growing up.” This difference might be a factor in why immunotherapy, which utilizes the body’s own immune system to combat cancer cells, has shown limited effectiveness in treating brain tumours. Dr. Cooper remarked, “Immunotherapy has changed how we treat cancer but it doesn’t always work for brain tumours.” She added, “What we’ve discovered is that the brain has its own immune system, but we don’t yet know how to use it.” According to Professor Richard Gilbertson, co-director of the centre, the group is in the initial phases of attempting to comprehend the implications of this discovery for treatment. He emphasized, “We need to design new drugs to treat children’s disease,” referring to medications that would be “less toxic and harmful” for children to endure. The centre has been awarded a multi-million pound grant, and a portion of these funds will be allocated to employing artificial intelligence to develop digital models of the most intricate brain tumours. Professor Gilbertson further explained: “We’ll be able to use the models to test our treatments in virtual clinical trials, and hopefully identify ones that are kinder for children, unlike radiotherapy for instance which can have pretty horrible side effects.” For updates on Cambridgeshire news, follow BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Information regarding our approach to external linking is available.