2021/01/12
Keio University School of Medicine
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
A research group at the Keio University School of Medicine, led by Senior Lecturer Shinsuke Yuasa of the Department of Cardiology and Assistant Professor Daisuke Kusumoto of the Center for Preventive Medicine, has developed a new drug discovery screening method using artificial intelligence (AI) called Deep-SeSMo and has successfully identified drug candidates that suppress the senescence of vascular endothelial cells.
In recent years, the advancement of AI has made it possible to solve a variety of new problems, and AI has become integrated into society in many fields. Particularly in the field of image analysis, AI can now perform recognition and judgment with an accuracy surpassing that of humans, and significant progress is also expected in the fields of medical sciences and biology. The research group first developed a system (Deep-SeSMo) that can evaluate the degree of cellular senescence solely from micrographs of cultured vascular endothelial cells, using a convolutional neural network, a type of AI specialized for image analysis. Furthermore, by applying this system, they conducted a compound screening and succeeded in identifying drug candidates with senescence-suppressing effects.
Conventionally, compound screening required complex molecular biology techniques to assess the pathological state of cells, and the enormous effort and cost involved were barriers to large-scale screening. The Deep-SeSMo system developed by the research group can evaluate a single image in just 0.1 milliseconds. The introduction of this system has enabled drug discovery screening that is far faster, simpler, and more reliable than conventional methods. It is expected that applying this system will also accelerate the development of new therapeutic drugs for various other diseases.
By conducting further research on the drug candidate compounds identified in this study, the group aims to develop therapeutic drugs for controlling senescence. It is also expected to lead to the development of groundbreaking therapeutic drugs for various diseases caused by vascular aging, such as myocardial infarction and heart failure.
The results of this research were published online in the British scientific journal "Nature Communications" on January 11, 2021 (London time).
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