Researchers tap AI to hone in on chronic gastrointestinal condition

Researchers have developed a computer method using AI techniques that could lead to a deeper understanding of, and treatment for, Crohn's disease, a chronic gastrointestinal inflammation that affects up to 780,000 people in the US alone. The team from Rutgers University, which published the results of the study in the journal Genome Medicine, used artificial intelligence to examine genetic signatures of Crohn's in 111 people, including 64 people with a Crohn's disease diagnosis. Researchers then used an artificial intelligence method, known as AVA,Dx (Analysis of Variation for Association with Disease), to identify genes whose functions changed more in Crohn's patients than in healthy people. The researchers were able to highlight known Crohn's disease genes, as well as new potential Crohn's genes. AVA,Dx also identified 16 percent of Crohn's patients at 99 percent precision, and 58 percent of the patients with 82 percent precision in over 3,000 individuals from separately sequenced panels.