Artificial intelligence platform, RADR®, aids in the discovery of DNA damaging agent for the ultra-rare cancer Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors

Over the last decade the next-generation sequencing and ‘omics techniques have become indispensable tools for medicine and drug discovery. These techniques have led to an explosion of publicly available data that often goes under-utilized due to the lack of bioinformatic expertise and tools to analyze that volume of data. Here, we demonstrate the power of applying two novel computational platforms, the NCI’s CellMiner Cross Database and Lantern Pharma’s proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) RADR® platform, to identify biological insights and potentially new target indications for the acylfulvene derivative drugs LP-100 (Irofulven) and LP-184. Analysis of multi-omics data of both drugs within CellMinerCDB generated discoveries into their mechanism of action, gene sets uniquely enriched to each drug, and how these drugs differed from existing DNA alkylating agents. Data from CellMinerCDB suggested that LP-184 and LP-100 were predicted to be effective in cancers with chromatin remodeling deficiencies, like the ultra-rare and fatal childhood cancer Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumors (ATRT). Lantern’s AI and ML RADR® platform was then utilized to build a model to test, in silico, if LP-184 would be efficacious in ATRT patients. In silico, RADR® aided in predicting that, indeed, ATRT would be sensitive to LP-184, which was then validated in vitro and in vivo. Applying computational tools and AI, like CellMinerCDB and RADR®, are novel and efficient translational approaches to drug discovery for rare cancers like ATRT.