IBM, 23andMe Launch Personalized Medicine Initiatives To Tackle Cancer, Lupus

By Jof Enriquez,
Follow me on Twitter @jofenriq

A targeted cancer treatment project involving IBM’s Watson and a lupus research study led by personal genomics company 23andMe and drug maker Pfizer are two of the latest initiatives seeking to advance the growing field of personalized medicine. Both programs will study people's unique genetic profiles to guide decisions on preventing, diagnosing, and treating gene-linked conditions.

According to a Reuters report, IBM will collaborate with 14 U.S. and Canadian institutions to come up with tailored cancer treatments based on DNA analysis to be made by IBM's Watson supercomputer. Oncologists will reportedly upload DNA profiles of tumors of consenting patients to the cloud where Watson — in as fast as a few minutes — will sift through thousands of mutations. Once the computer identifies the specific mutation that drives a tumor, it can help suggest a specific drug to treat it.

"Watson will look for actionable targets," Steve Harvey, VP of IBM Watson Health, told Reuters. IBM claims Watson can look for approved, experimental, and even non-cancer drugs in its huge database of studies and clinical trials that may prove more beneficial to a patient when used in tandem with standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

IBM said it took the company more than a year to develop a specialized scoring system for Watson to recognize relevant driver mutations and disregard non-driver mutations. With Watson's vaunted computing prowess further refined, the company says personalized cancer medicine will benefit more patients than ever before.

IBM's partners in this collaboration are: Cleveland Clinic, Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Yale Cancer Center, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, BC Cancer Agency, City of Hope, Duke Cancer Institute, McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University, New York Genome Center, Sanford Health, University of Kansas Cancer Center, University of Southern California Center for Applied Molecular Medicine, and University of Washington Medical Center.

Cancer therapy is one area where precision medicine is believed to have the most immediate impact. Researchers hope that other genetically linked conditions will benefit from tailored therapies arising from this emerging practice in medicine.

For instance, researchers hope that the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can be better understood by genetic analysis. This is the aim of one study launched recently by 23andMe, in collaboration with Pfizer and the Lupus Research Institute (LPI). The study plans to enroll 5,000 patients with lupus to voluntarily provide genetic data, survey information, and consent to access medical records to help unlock the genetic causes of the disease. This includes providing a sample using the 23andMe 's DNA-saliva kit.

“The ability to effectively personalize treatments for lupus patients is limited, due in large part to our incomplete understanding of the disease,” 23andMe CEO and cofounder Anne Wojcicki, said in a recent statement. “We hope to change that by studying human genetics alongside environmental and health history factors to ultimately help inform better treatment options for lupus patients."

According to LPI, lupus affects some 1.5 million Americans. The condition has no cure, although treatments that alleviate some of its symptoms are available. Further studies may lead the way to improved diagnostic techniques and therapies.

Image credit: "IBM Watson" by Clockready. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.