The Oncology Biomarker Discovery framework reveals cetuximab and bevacizumab response patterns in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Precision medicine has revolutionised cancer treatments; however, actionable biomarkers remain scarce. To address this, we develop the Oncology Biomarker Discovery (OncoBird) framework for analysing the molecular and biomarker landscape of randomised controlled clinical trials. OncoBird identifies biomarkers based on single genes or mutually exclusive genetic alterations in isolation or in the context of tumour subtypes, and finally, assesses predictive components by their treatment interactions.

The pharmacoepigenomic landscape of cancer cell lines reveals the epigenetic component of drug sensitivity.

Aberrant DNA methylation accompanies genetic alterations during oncogenesis and tumour homeostasis and contributes to the transcriptional deregulation of key signalling pathways in cancer. Despite increasing efforts in DNA methylation profiling of cancer patients, there is still a lack of epigenetic biomarkers to predict treatment efficacy. To address this, we analyse 721 cancer cell lines across 22 cancer types treated with 453 anti-cancer compounds.

Inferred Ancestral Origin of Cancer Cell Lines Associates with Differential Drug Response.

Disparities between risk, treatment outcomes and survival rates in cancer patients across the world may be attributed to socioeconomic factors. In addition, the role of ancestry is frequently discussed. In preclinical studies, high-throughput drug screens in cancer cell lines have empowered the identification of clinically relevant molecular biomarkers of drug sensitivity; however, the genetic ancestry from tissue donors has been largely neglected in this setting.

Artificial intelligence in early drug discovery enabling precision medicine.

: Precision medicine is the concept of treating diseases based on environmental factors, lifestyles, and molecular profiles of patients. This approach has been found to increase success rates of clinical trials and accelerate drug approvals. However, current precision medicine applications in early drug discovery use only a handful of molecular biomarkers to make decisions, whilst clinics gear up to capture the full molecular landscape of patients in the near future.