test test Predicting which patients with stage II colorectal cancer will suffer a recurrence after surgery is difficult. However, many are routinely prescribed chemotherapy, even though it may be unnecessary and cause severe side effects. In some patients these can be fatal. Oxford Cancer Biomarkers worked with Meridian IT to apply IBM® PowerAI Vision to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers in tumor microenvironments, with the potential to enhance early diagnosis and treatment decisions.
The Challenge
Cancer is the second leading cause of death world-wide. Tobacco use, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are key cancer risk factors, so undertaking lifestyle changes can prevent or mitigate the onset of the disease. Generally, the sooner cancer is diagnosed, the better the outcomes. As a result, identify-ing genetic predisposition to cancer or early signs of the disease is a priority in oncology research.
Oxford Cancer Biomarkers (OCB) was established in 2012 to discover and develop biomarkers (a quantifiable biologi-cal parameter that provides insight into a patient’s clinical state) to advance personalised medicine within oncology, focusing on colorectal cancer and its treatments.
“At OCB, we want to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to cancer care by giving clinicians as much information about a patient’s condition as possible. We aim to develop screening tests that discover these insights more quickly and cost-effectively and less invasively than existing methods.”
— David Browning
Chief Executive Officer | Oxford Cancer Biomarkers
OCB turned its attention to chemotherapy toxicity. A common treatment process for cancer patients is surgery to remove the tumor, followed by cycles of chemotherapy to ensure all cancerous cells are destroyed. 30 percent of colorectal cancer patients are identified with stage II tumors. Of these, only about 33 percent actually need chemotherapy. Research shows that around a third of these patients have a low risk of recurrence and do not need chemotherapy. Just over half will require standard monotherapy and the rest are high risk requiring combina-tion chemotherapy. However, clinicians were unable to accurately identify individual needs. Treatment protocols vary by country, but some treat all patients in a belt-and-braces approach that increases risk of toxicity whilst others select without robust scientific backup. OCB wanted to provide the ability to target precision medicine for the individual.
“Many patients are routinely prescribed 5FU therapy because, until now, it’s been too complicated to predict which patients are likely to suffer a recurrence after surgery,” says Browning. “We began examining resected tissue samples, combining biomarkers to identify the risk of relapse. However, between 20 and 30 percent of cancer patients experience severe side effects when treated with the most frequently used chemotherapy drug: 5FU (or capecitabine). Furthermore, approximately 1 percent of patients are at high risk of life-threatening toxicities from the drug.
The Solution
Working with IBM Business Partner Meridian IT, OCB continued development of image analysis algorithms to enhance its existing ColoProg platform, based on IBM PowerAI Vision. Running on IBM Power Systems AC922 accelerated servers hosted by Meridian IT, these enhance-ments utilise deep learning models to augment OCB’s proprietary DNA ploidy (a measure of the DNA content within tumor cells) and stroma content (non-malignant cells that can provide an extracellular matrix on which tumor cells can grow) assays, to classify resected tissue samples. The company combines these biomarkers to stratify patients into low, intermediate and high-risk groups of colorectal cancer recurrence, enabling better clinical decision-making.
“As soon as we met the IBM and Meridian IT teams, we felt that our knowledge complemented theirs: OCB could provide the clinical background, while IBM and Meridian IT knew how to adapt leading-edge technology to our use case—. Both IBM and Meridian IT are at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation, so we knew that they were the right partners to come on this journey with us.”
— David Browning
Chief Executive Officer | Oxford Cancer Biomarkers
Designed for image classification, IBM PowerAI Vision includes an intuitive toolset and the most popular deep learning frameworks. Using these features, Meridian IT was able to build models for OCB fast. The team took advantage of massive throughput capability offered by the accelerated IBM Power Systems servers equipped with NVIDIA with NVLink GPUs to expedite training of the models, bringing enhanced ColoProg to life sooner than expected.
“IBM PowerAI Vision and IBM accelerated Power Systems servers are a match made in heaven for AI challenges,” says Browning. “We’ve been pushing the technology hard to make breakthroughs in a new area, and it hasn’t let us down. Meridian IT have collaborated closely with us in an iterative process, challenging and refining our ideas to ensure the best results.”
— David Browning
Chief Executive Officer | Oxford Cancer Biomarkers
The Results
so help healthcare providers use their resources more efficiently.”
— David Browning
Chief Executive Officer | Oxford Cancer Biomarkers
Working with Meridian IT and IBM, OCB is reducing time-to-market for the enhanced ColoProg platform, helping it start to deliver value to patients and generate revenues sooner. The company is already exploring how the solution can be extended to breast and prostate cancers.
Teaming up with IBM and Meridian IT to tackle issues in colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment is just the beginning of an exciting collaboration. With IBM’s global healthcare experience and Meridian IT’s deep knowledge of AI solutions, we’re in good hands to bring leading-edge precision diagnostic tests to markets worldwide.
— David Browning
Chief Executive Officer | Oxford Cancer Biomarkers