Imagine a Spartan Stadium packed with 75,000 fans. Everything is wearing green and white jerseys. It's going to be difficult to find that person. It's how difficult it is for scientists to find disease markers called biomarkers in their blood. And instead of one stadium, researchers will need to search for information equivalent to 100,000 stadium-worthy information.
To tackle this challenge, a research team from Michigan State University collaborated with scientists from Augusta University, the Karolinska Institute and Stanford University, using methods of studying causes and effects using nanomedicine, artificial intelligence, or AI.
Their goal was to find a rare biomarker of diffuse prostate cancer and a condition called atherosclerosis, where the artery is blocked. Their research results have recently been Journal of Chemical Engineering.
Cells affected by the disease secrete proteins and other biomolecules into the bloodstream. These proteins provide valuable clues about a patient's health or illness, and can be collected and studied. Once identified, they pave the way for major advances in the development of personalized medical treatments or in the development of precision medicine. ”
Morteza Mahmoudi, Associate Professor of Radiology and Precision Health Program at MSU College of Human Medicine
How they discovered
“Human plasma contains many different proteins, and the rarest proteins contain valuable insights into disease,” explained Mahmoudi. “To expand information from less abundant plasma proteins, we introduced small particles (nanoparticles not seen by the human eye) into our plasma samples. We then used AI and actual causality to analyze the results.
“This is the first time that nanomedicine, protein corona, AI and actual causality have been used together to identify the cause of a disease,” he added. “We are excited about this discovery as it could advance early detection and develop targeted therapies for prostate cancer and atherosclerosis.”
MSU researchers Mohammad Ghassemi, Borzoo Bonakdarpour and Liangliang Sun have made significant contributions to the study, Mahmoudi said. Funding sources include the American Heart Association, the Pentagon's Physician Research Award for the Prostate Cancer Research Program, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Science Foundation.
sauce:
Michigan State University
Journal Reference:
Guha, A. , et al. (2025). AI-driven prediction of cardiac oncology biomarkers using protein corona analysis. Journal of Chemical Engineering. doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.161134.
