MSGID: 1:317/3 6275f5ff   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    'Digital twins,' an aid to give individual patients the right treatment   
   at the right time    
      
     Date:   
         May 6, 2022   
     Source:   
         Linko"ping University   
     Summary:   
         An international team of researchers have developed advanced   
         computer models, or 'digital twins', of diseases, with the goal   
         of improving diagnosis and treatment. They used one such model   
         to identify the most important disease protein in hay fever. The   
         study underlines the complexity of disease and the necessity of   
         using the right treatment at the right time.   
      
      
      
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   An international team of researchers have developed advanced computer   
   models, or "digital twins," of diseases, with the goal of improving   
   diagnosis and treatment. They used one such model to identify the most   
   important disease protein in hay fever. The study, which has just been   
   published in the open access journal Genome Medicine, underlines the   
   complexity of disease and the necessity of using the right treatment at   
   the right time.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Why is a drug effective against a certain illness in some individuals,   
   but not in others? With common diseases, medication is ineffective in   
   40-70 percent of the patients. One reason for this is that diseases are   
   seldom caused by a single "fault" that can be easily treated. Instead,   
   in most diseases the symptoms are the result of altered interactions   
   between thousands of genes in many different cell types. The timing is   
   also important. Disease processes often evolve over long periods. We   
   are often not aware of disease development until symptoms appear, and   
   diagnosis and treatment are thus often delayed, which may contribute to   
   insufficient medical efficacy.   
      
   In a recent study, an international research team aimed to bridge the   
   gap between this complexity and modern health care by constructing   
   computational disease models of the altered gene interactions across   
   many cell types at different time points. The researchers' long-term   
   goal is to develop such computational models into "digital twins" of   
   individual patients' diseases.   
      
   Such medical digital twins might be used to tailor medication so that each   
   patient could be treated with the right drug at the right time. Ideally,   
   each twin could be matched with and treated with thousands of drugs in   
   the computer, before actual treatment on the patient begins.   
      
   The researchers started by developing methods to construct digital   
   twins of patients with hay fever. They used a technique, single-cell   
   RNA sequencing, to determine all gene activity in each of thousands of   
   individual immune cells - - more specifically white blood cells. Since   
   these interactions between genes and cell types may differ between   
   different time points in the same patient, the researchers measured gene   
   activity at different time points before and after stimulating white   
   blood cells with pollen.   
      
   In order to construct computer models of all the data, the researchers   
   used network analyses. Networks can be used to describe and analyse   
   complex systems.   
      
   For example, a football team could be analysed as a network based on the   
   passes between the players. The player that passes most to other players   
   during the whole match may be most important in that network. Similar   
   principles were applied to construct the computer models, or "twins,"   
   as well as to identify the most important disease protein.   
      
   In the current study, the researchers found that multiple proteins and   
   signalling cascades were important in seasonal allergies, and that these   
   varied greatly across cell types and at different stages of the disease.   
      
   "We can see that these are extremely complicated changes that occur in   
   different phases of a disease. The variation between different times   
   points means that you have to treat the patient with the right medicine   
   at the right time," says Dr Mikael Benson, professor at Linko"ping   
   University, who led the study.   
      
   Finally, the researchers identified the most important protein in the   
   twin model of hay fever. They show that inhibiting this protein, called   
   PDGF-BB, in experiments with cells was more effective than using a known   
   allergy drug directed against another protein, called IL-4.   
      
   The study also demonstrated that the methods could potentially be applied   
   to give the right treatment at the right time in other immunological   
   diseases, like rheumatism or inflammatory bowel diseases. Clinical   
   implementation will require international collaborations between   
   universities, hospitals and companies.   
      
   The study is based on an interdisciplinary collaboration between   
   15 researchers in Sweden, the US, Korea and China. The research has   
   received financial support from the EU, NIH, the Swedish and Nordic   
   Research Councils, and the Swedish Cancer Society.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by Linko"ping_University. Original   
   written by Karin So"derlund Leifler. Note: Content may be edited for   
   style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Xinxiu Li, Eun Jung Lee, Sandra Lilja, Joseph Loscalzo, Samuel   
      Scha"fer,   
         Martin Smelik, Maria Regina Strobl, Oleg Sysoev, Hui Wang, Huan   
         Zhang, Yelin Zhao, Danuta R. Gawel, Barbara Bohle, Mikael Benson. A   
         dynamic single cell-based framework for digital twins to prioritize   
         disease genes and drug targets. Genome Medicine, 2022; 14 (1) DOI:   
         10.1186/s13073-022- 01048-4   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220506102620.htm   
      
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