Chinese, Spanish scientists develop AI tool to detect abnormal cells
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The research team says that the AI tool could have important applications for immunology and viral biology.
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An illustration of a medical professional using advanced technology to access health-related data and asses human conditions (AFP)
Scientists have created an AI tool called Artificial Intelligence of the Nucleus (AINU), which is designed to distinguish between normal and abnormal cells, revealed research published on Tuesday in the Nature Machine Intelligence journal.
According to the research team, consisting of Chinese and Spanish scientists, this capability is essential, as abnormal cells can signal the presence of cancer or various infectious diseases.
"Our method could be used to identify virus-infected cells in blood or tissue at very early stages after infection, with important applications for immunology and viral biology. Finally (and most importantly, in our opinion), it could identify cancer cells [and perhaps metastatic cells] among wild-type cells from human specimens," the researchers said.
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The tool is expected to enhance diagnostics and therapies in regenerative medicine, virology, and cancer biology, the article noted.
However, the researchers acknowledged that some limitations still need to be addressed before the technology can be tested or implemented in clinical settings.
AI has already proved extremely efficient in the development of chatbots such as ChatGPT, and developers are now interested in finding out if the technology could be used to assist in the medical and health field.
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A large Swedish study said last August that AI could be used to assist with screenings for breast cancer, suggesting that it can significantly help reduce the workload for radiologists in locating tumors.
For countries suffering from a shortage of radiologists, the study's results have raised hopes in facilitating routine scans, especially for patients who suffer from breast cancer.
The study was conducted in Sweden with the participation of 80,000 women. Mammograms were carried out in four different locations in Southwest Sweden between April 2021 and July 2022.
Although the study's results were hailed as promising, the authors said further research needs to be done before AI can be used to screen for breast cancer at a larger scale.
