Virtual copies of women with cancer developed using AI to advance precision medicine

The Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) is leading a project that seeks to develop virtual replicas of women with advanced cancer using artificial intelligence, known as digital twins, which could in the future allow for personalized treatments and precise prediction of disease progression.

According to the CNIO, a digital twin is a virtual model that seeks to accurately replicate a patient's health status in real time.

Unlike traditional medical records, this twin integrates multiple layers of information, including: molecular data from the tumor (DNA, proteins, metabolism), real-time body indicators collected with smartwatches (heart rate, sleep, physical activity), emotional and quality-of-life information collected through an app, and conventional clinical data such as treatments and tests.

The CNIO also points out that these data are constantly updated to allow researchers and physicians to better understand the progression of the disease and the impact of treatment on each patient, predict side effects, and adjust therapies in real time.

The study, which involves nine hospitals across Spain and two universities (the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the Carlos III University), plans to include 300 women with metastatic breast, lung, or colon cancer just before starting treatment. Currently, 150 women have been recruited.

The CNIO assures that the initial results, presented at the ESMO congress, show that high-quality remote monitoring is possible, and that the data obtained is "robust enough" to train computational models that will allow predicting how patients' illnesses will develop.

The research team is already preparing to present their results at the upcoming ASCO 2025 conference, which will take place in Chicago, USA, and represents the largest oncology gathering in the world.

There, the team will discuss how remotely collected data (from daily activity to emotional states) can help predict early treatment responses in metastatic cancer.

The CNIO highlights that one of the most innovative aspects of this project is that it not only measures what happens in the tumor, but also how the patient's body ages during treatment.

"Thanks to a new biological clock model, also developed at the CNIO, it is possible to estimate an organism's actual biological age from DNA," the Center notes.

This molecular clock, they explain, accurately detects whether a patient's body is aging faster than expected , which can be influenced by the type of tumor, the toxicity of treatments, or even emotional factors.

With this information, doctors could better assess the impact of treatment and adjust the intensity or combination of therapies according to each person's biological situation.

The CNIO emphasizes that this is the first time this tool has been practically incorporated into a real-life clinical follow-up study. Although this project is still in the development phase and does not have curative purposes for participating patients, the CNIO emphasizes that it does seek to generate tools and knowledge to transform the medicine of the future.

"Thanks to the combination of molecular data, remote monitoring, and biological age measurement, the door is opened to more precise oncology tailored to each individual," notes the CNIO, which asserts that "it is one of the most ambitious personalized medicine initiatives in Spain."

Led by the CNIO and funded with 2.5 million euros over three years , this public research project, technically called 'High-definition oncology in women's cancer', is a personalized precision medicine project funded by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) with funds from the European Union (NextGenerationEU/PRTR).

It is part of the ISCIII's 'IMPaCT' (Precision Medicine Infrastructure associated with Science and Technology) initiative.