An AI that reads a tumour's ageing can predict whose immunotherapy is likely to work

Immunotherapy — coaxing a patient's own immune system to fight their cancer — can be transformative, but many patients simply do not respond, losing precious time. A team at POSTECH in South Korea, led by Professor Sanguk Kim, built an AI that first looks for 'senescent' cells around a tumour — ageing cells that quietly suppress immune activity — and only then predicts who will benefit. Published in npj Digital Medicine, the method beat the biomarkers doctors use today across four cancer types and six patient groups, and held up in a group of skin-cancer patients it had never seen. 'This prediction method could help more cancer patients benefit from immunotherapy,' Kim says.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation