AI and Liquid Biopsy Enable Personalized Immunotherapy for Lung Cancer

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In recent years, the emergence of immunotherapy has brought about a paradigm shift, offering real hope and extending the lives of thousands.

However, this “magic bullet” is not infallible: clinical statistics reveal that between 20% and 45% of patients do not experience any therapeutic benefit from these treatments. The major challenge today is not only treating the disease, but also knowing who to treat in order to avoid ineffective procedures and unnecessary side effects.

Faced with this unmet medical need, a consortium of researchers from Malaga, led by IBIMA (Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga) and the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital, has developed a pioneering method that uses liquid biopsy and artificial intelligence to personalize immunotherapy with unprecedented precision.

The multi-omics approach: analyzing the hidden layers of the lung cancer

The key to this advance lies in an approach called multi-omics. Unlike conventional tests that analyze a single marker, this system integrates different biological layers of the tumor, such as cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation and extracellular vesicle microRNAs, extracted simply from a blood sample.

Through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms, researchers have managed to process this complex amalgam of data to classify patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which represents the most frequent type of the disease.

“This analysis allows us to drastically reduce diagnostic uncertainty and move towards precision medicine where each treatment is tailored to the patient’s unique biological profile.”

The molecular “ID”: three paths to survival

The most disruptive finding of the study, led by researcher Isabel Barragán (IBIMA) and oncologist Antonio Rueda Domínguez (Hospital Virgen de la Victoria), is the identification of what they have dubbed the “molecular DNA” of the tumor. By analyzing samples from 79 patients with metastatic lung cancer, the team identified three distinct profiles that allow them to anticipate the evolution of the disease from its initial stages:

Excellent prognostic profile. Patients whose biological signature indicates a high probability of a positive response, potentially achieving survival of more than 40 months.

High-aggressiveness lung cancer profiles. Two other profiles identify tumors with a much more hostile behavior and an intrinsic resistance to immunotherapy.

This classification is not limited to the time of diagnosis. Thanks to the non-invasive nature of liquid biopsy, physicians can monitor the tumor in real time , observing how it changes under the pressure of treatment without subjecting the patient to repeated tissue biopsies or aggressive surgeries.

This project is a successful example of knowledge transfer from the laboratory to the patient’s bedside. It has been made possible through the synergy between the Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga and the Nanomedicine Platform (IBIMA BIONAND Platform), the Virgen de la Victoria University Hospital, the Regional University Hospital of Malaga, and the University of Malaga.

The robustness of the results, which have already been validated in other lung cancer patient groups to confirm their clinical reliability, has led to their publication in the scientific journal Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. Furthermore, the research has received institutional and financial support from the Carlos III Health Institute, the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) , and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC).

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(Featured image by Robina Weermeijer via Unsplash)

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First published in GACETA MEDICA. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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