Hadassah Cancer Research Institute (HCRI) Announces Groundbreaking Advance in Personalized Cancer Care

JERUSALEM, July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Hadassah Cancer Research Institute (HCRI), a leading force in advancing cancer treatments, unveils a significant breakthrough in personalized cancer care. This research, published in the esteemed journal Cell Reports Medicine (June 11, 2024), introduces MESiCA, a novel machine learning model poised to revolutionize cancer diagnosis and treatment.

"This publication represents a major leap forward in personalized medicine," emphasizes Professor Michal Lotem, Head of HCRI. "MESiCA offers a practical tool for oncologists, enabling them to make more informed decisions, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes."

Unlocking the Potential of Mutational Signatures

Cancer development is driven by mutations in the DNA, leaving behind unique patterns known as "mutational signatures." These signatures act as fingerprints, revealing the underlying causes of the cancer. Some of these fingerprints have clinical implications for treatment plans. Traditionally, identifying these signatures required analysing a vast amount of data, often exceeding what's available in routine clinical settings.

"Current methods rely on targeted gene panel testing, which only analyses a small portion of the genome," explains Professor Aron Popovtzer, Heading the Sharett oncology institute. "This limitation hindered our ability to detect mutational signatures and apply this information to personalize treatment plans."

MESiCA: A Game-Changer for Personalized Care

MESiCA tackles this challenge by harnessing the power of machine learning and natural language processing (NLP). This innovative model can accurately detect dominant mutational signatures using only a small number of mutations, making it ideal for everyday clinical use.

"MESiCA has been validated in over 60,000 cancer samples, revealing crucial signatures linked to better survival rates and treatment responses," highlight Dr. Adar Yaacov, the 1^st author, and Dr. Shai Rosenberg (head of the Laboratory for Cancer Computational Biology), the principle investigator of this project. "By enabling the detection of these signatures in routine tests, MESiCA empowers clinicians to prescribe more accurate personalize treatment plans, ultimately improving patient outcomes."

This groundbreaking research by Dr. Rosenberg and Dr. Yaacov paves the way for a new era of personalized cancer care. With MESiCA, HCRI continues its unwavering commitment to developing innovative solutions to combat cancer. http://www.h-cri.org

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SOURCE The Hadassah Cancer Research Institute