Visibelli Anna, Roncaglia Bianca, Spiga Ottavia, Santucci Annalisa
Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy.
Competence Center ARTES 4.0, 53100 Siena, Italy.
Biomedicines. 2023 Mar 13;11(3):887. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11030887.
Emerging machine learning (ML) technologies have the potential to significantly improve the research and treatment of rare diseases, which constitute a vast set of diseases that affect a small proportion of the total population. Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms can help to quickly identify patterns and associations that would be difficult or impossible for human analysts to detect. Predictive modeling techniques, such as deep learning, have been used to forecast the progression of rare diseases, enabling the development of more targeted treatments. Moreover, AI has also shown promise in the field of drug development for rare diseases with the identification of subpopulations of patients who may be most likely to respond to a particular drug. This review aims to highlight the achievements of AI algorithms in the study of rare diseases in the past decade and advise researchers on which methods have proven to be most effective. The review will focus on specific rare diseases, as defined by a prevalence rate that does not exceed 1-9/100,000 on Orphanet, and will examine which AI methods have been most successful in their study. We believe this review can guide clinicians and researchers in the successful application of ML in rare diseases.
新兴的机器学习(ML)技术有潜力显著改善罕见病的研究与治疗,罕见病是指影响总人口中一小部分人的一大类疾病。人工智能(AI)算法有助于快速识别人类分析人员难以或无法检测到的模式和关联。诸如深度学习等预测建模技术已被用于预测罕见病的进展,从而推动更具针对性治疗方法的开发。此外,在罕见病药物研发领域,AI通过识别可能对特定药物反应最明显的患者亚群也展现出了前景。本综述旨在突出过去十年中AI算法在罕见病研究方面取得的成果,并为研究人员提供已被证明最有效的方法建议。该综述将聚焦于特定的罕见病,即按照孤儿网(Orphanet)上不超过1 - 9/100,000的患病率定义的疾病,并考察哪些AI方法在其研究中最为成功。我们相信本综述能够指导临床医生和研究人员在罕见病中成功应用机器学习。