Personalized medicine for lung cancer treatment: using Big Data-driven approaches for decision support

In the last decade, a wide range of new treatments have been proposed to heal lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world and its most frequent type. Still, the response to these new options strongly varies between patients, and few guidelines are available on how to optimise the treatment choice. P4-LUCAT proposes to address this issue by developing a technological solution supporting oncologists in the selection of the most appropriate lung cancer treatment. The project will develop a Big Data analytics dashboard, integrating patient data, public repositories and literature evidence. Such a tool will provide the practitioner with information about: (a) the efficacy of a treatment, tailored to the geno- and phenotypical characteristics of the patient; (b) the expected adverse effects and toxicities; and (c) relevant literature supporting these findings. This can only be achieved by integrating different sources of information, including Electronic Health Records, laboratory test results from liquid biopsies, scientific literature, and open structured data. It also requires the integration of techniques spanning from Natural Language Processing to knowledge graphs. P4-LUCAT will impact the healthcare system by supporting better treatment selection decisions, thus reducing toxicities and adverse effects, and increasing treatment effectiveness. Moreover, conscious decisions will have a direct effect on treatment costs, e.g. by reducing the number of visits and unnecessary tests, and increasing quality of life and employability of the patients. In summary, P4-LUCAT will yield a novel scenario, in which an evidence- and data-based information system will support oncologists during decision-making.

Duration:  2020 – 2023 (44 months)

Funding source (Code): ERA-NET Personalized Medicine (163)

Participant entities: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Coordinator), Servicio Madrileño de Salud, Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), National Center for Scientific Research DEMOKRITOS, Athens Technology Center S.A (Subcontracted)

Official webpage: N/A

Laboratory/internal web: http://medal.ctb.upm.es/projects/P4-LUCAT/

Responsible:  Alejandro Rodríguez González

Co-Responsible: Guillermo Vigueras González