2024-07-04 21:40:14
Professor Alexander Anderson of the Moffitt Cancer Center in the US, who visited Korea to attend the International Society of Mathematical Biology
Enter DNA-tumor growth rate, etc. and the repair model calculates the process of cancer spread
Actual cancer progression rate slowed by 25 months… Domestic research conducted by Konkuk University, KIST, etc.
“In the near future, patients will be able to easily see how their tumor size and location will change depending on the cancer treatment method through smartphones and tablet PCs. Doctors will be able to confidently choose the most appropriate treatment for patients, and patients will be able to trust the treatment method. ‘Mathematical oncology’, which mathematically calculates cancer progression, will play a big role in this process.”
Professor Alexander Anderson of the Moffitt Cancer Center in the US, who visited Seoul to attend the ‘Society of Mathematical Biology (SMB)’ held at Konkuk University’s Seoul Campus, said this in an interview on the 2nd. The Moffitt Cancer Center, which is considered a leading medical institution for cancer research in the US, has the only department among cancer centers in the world. The name of the department is ‘Integrated Mathematical Oncology (IMO),’ a combination of ‘mathematics’ and ‘oncology,’ which seem to go together. Professor Anderson first created this department in 2008. He is currently also leading the ‘Evolutionary Therapy Center,’ which applies mathematical oncology research to cancer treatment in earnest.
IMO creates mathematical models to calculate and understand how tumors form and spread. “Mathematical oncology is similar to what meteorologists do when they predict the course of a hurricane,” Anderson said. Meteorologists input many variables, such as wind speed, water temperature, air temperature, and air pressure, into mathematical models that predict how a hurricane will behave, and predict the intensity and direction of the hurricane. Similarly, IMO researchers input variables, such as cell type, the presence of certain genes, tumor growth rates, and properties of certain cancers, into mathematical models to predict how cancer will progress under different treatments.
Professor Anderson explained, “When doctors at the Moffitt Cancer Center decide on a treatment method for a patient, the Evolutionary Therapeutics Center participates,” adding, “This is because the effectiveness of the treatment can be predicted in specific numbers by using a mathematical model.” For example, in the case of a patient who needs three types of chemotherapy drugs, it can be calculated that if 10 mL of chemotherapy drugs are administered at once every two days, the tumor size will decrease by 5% after four weeks. In 2022, Professor Anderson attracted attention from the academic world by announcing clinical results that showed that a treatment based on a mathematical model delayed the progression of prostate cancer patients by 25 months and increased life expectancy by 17 months.
In particular, Professor Anderson applies the ‘theory of evolution’ when creating a repair model. Cancer cells are also made up of multiple cells, and when treatment continues, cells that are resistant to treatment among cancer cells survive and evolve. This is why cancer relapses.
Professor Anderson adjusts the dose of anticancer drugs to allow cells sensitive to anticancer drugs to survive and compete with resistant cells. Ultimately, this is a method of treating cancer by slowing down the growth rate of resistant cells. His papers have been published in international academic journals such as ‘Nature Review Cancer’ and ‘Cell’. Currently, seven clinical trials related to cancer, including breast cancer and lung cancer, are underway.
Professor Anderson emphasized that the ability to handle data is important when creating a repair model. He said, “There are various types of data that can be used, such as blood samples, tissue biopsy results, and computed tomography (CT) images, and the data were collected at different times, so we put a lot of effort into testing how to effectively integrate them and apply them to the repair model.”
According to Professor Anderson, there are 20 major research groups in the U.S. that are actively conducting research in mathematical oncology. In Korea, a small number of researchers, including Professor Yangjin Kim of Konkuk University and Eunjung Kim, a senior researcher at the Natural Products Informatics Research Center of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), are conducting research in mathematical oncology. Professor Anderson said, “I hope that every cancer center in the world will have a department that conducts mathematical oncology,” and “As interest in cancer increases in Korea, where the population is rapidly aging, mathematical oncology will become an important specialty.”
Lee Chae-rin, Donga Science Reporter [email protected]
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2024-07-04 21:40:14