MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. Mathematicians from Russian High School of Economics (HSE) have developed a model which can help treat children cancer, Sergei Kuznetsov, head of the HSE School of Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence, told TASS.

Alexander Karachunsky, deputy director for Research of the Federal Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Immunology (the Dmitry Rogachev Center) contacted the HSE School of Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence in 2011, he said.

"He expressed hope that HSE mathematicians and programmers could help doctors with data analysis and modeling of disease progression and treatment response. And he asked us to find out why certain drugs and therapies help some patients, but don’t help others others. The medics were interested in how the treatment response might vary depending on the patient's physiology, such as the state of the internal organs and blood, and the role of genetics," Kuznetsov said.

A team of HSE mathematicians was asked to systematize and analyze patients' personal data to inform better treatment choices. The researchers set out to develop a methodology for identifying patient subgroups with significant differences in terms of response to certain treatments, specifically two types of chemotherapy. The study compared patients with similar physiological profiles receiving different types of treatment.