A biomarker is a measurable biological signal — a gene, a protein or a pattern — that tells doctors about a tumour. Tissue analysis is the gold standard, but tissue requires a biopsy. AI learns to find biomarkers in images and blood signals instead.
Radiomics, for example, extracts hundreds of quantitative features from a scan — texture, shape, intensity distribution — and links them to tumour genetics. The promise: a “virtual biopsy”, rich biological information from images the patient is already receiving.
Biomarkers AI can reveal
- Tumour aggressiveness from imaging texture
- Receptor status predicted from scans
- Molecular subtype classification
- Response prediction before treatment begins
Virtual biopsies are a research frontier. Today they complement — they do not replace — tissue diagnosis.