UCLH and UCL researchers are applying artificial intelligence (AI) to improve and personalise treatment of juvenile lupus (known in full as Juvenile Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, or JSLE).
Researchers led by Dr Coziana Ciurtin and colleagues at the Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology Versus Arthritis at UCL, UCLH and GOSH and the UCL Centre for Rheumatology (Bloomsbury) are training computers to learn from concrete examples of the JSLE patient journey to enable them to build models that can predict how any particular JSLE patient’s condition will evolve.
The aim of the computer models – developed through an approach known as machine learning – is to improve treatment selection for individual patients, to personalise their care.
Dr Ciurtin said: “There is currently a lack of specific treatments for children and adolescents with lupus compared to adults – despite clinicians’ concern regarding the long-term use of treatments that suppress the immune system in younger patients. We hope that the power of AI and machine learning can help us address this lack of tailored-treatment options and help to personalise care and look into un-tackled medical problems, such as cardio-vascular risk in juvenile lupus.”
Supporting the work at the Centre for Adolescent Rheumatology is PhD student Mr Junjie Peng, who has expertise in computer science and personalised medicine. He said: “AI and machine learning approaches allow us to rapidly analyse complex data in ways that can make the treatment of lupus (and other conditions) as precise as possible.”
Prof. Liz Jury and Dr. George Robinson, at the UCL Centre of Rheumatology (Bloomsbury) added: “Understanding how the immune cells behave differently in patients with juvenile lupus according to age and gender could help us improve both lupus treatment as well as develop strategies to prevent long-term complications."
Prof Ines Pineda Torra, at the UCL Centre for Cardiometabolic and Vascular Science, said: “We are grateful to the patients who take part in research and consent to the use of their data by researchers. Patients should know that they are contributing to advances in understanding the role of blood lipids and genes in lupus – we couldn’t do this research without them.”
The research is supported by a large Versus Arthritis grant, in partnership with Great Ormond Street Children’s Charity and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres at UCLH and GOSH.
