UNN scientists teach neural network to determine the region of an individual's origin based on immunity
Scientists from Lobachevsky University and Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University have developed a neural network that will determine an individual's regional affiliation based on the characteristics of his or her immune system with an accuracy of 95%. The neural network was trained using data on the state of the immune system of residents of the Far North and central Russia.
The project is based on the concept of inflammatory aging (inflammaging). This is a basic inflammation of the body that depends on the mode of functioning of the human immune system.
“Normally, the immune system regularly cleans the body of viruses, pathogens, and cellular debris; as we age, this “cleaning” becomes more frequent, and the level of underlying inflammation increases. We see this in the number of cytokines - the proteins that control immunity. Each of them is responsible for a different group of diseases. These indicators may differ significantly between residents of Yakutsk and Nizhny Novgorod,” explained the author of the study, Mikhail Ivanchenko, Chief Researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Research Centre of the UNN Institute of Information Technology, Mathematics and Mechanics.
According to scientists, the immune-inflammatory profile of those who live in Yakutia corresponds to the morbidity statistics of the Far North regions: their immune system has to actively fight viral infections, including lung diseases. At the same time, Yakutians suffer from diabetes, arthritis, allergies and skin diseases less frequently than residents of Nizhny Novgorod or Moscow.
“Compared to people from Nizhny Novgorod, residents of Yakutia are more prone to immune-inflammatory aging. This is confirmed by the results of our last year's research, where we showed that people age faster in extreme climatic conditions. The neural network we have trained will be able to classify the population of other regions as well,“ Mikhail Ivanchenko noted.
Scientists expect to scale the project up to determine the immune age of residents in different parts of Russia. Knowing the immune-inflammatory profile of residents of a particular Russian region will make it possible to balance the immune system, prevent accelerated aging of the population and develop individual recommendations for lifestyle correction.
“Studying immune-inflammatory age in different ethnic groups and in different climatic zones helps to understand how genetic and environmental factors influence health and aging. This knowledge contributes to the development of personalised disease prevention,“ commented Alexey Moskalyov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Longevity Institute with the Clinic of Preventive Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Russian Research Centre for Surgery.
The study was carried out within the framework of the project implemented by the UNN Artificial Intelligence Research Centre with the participation of researchers from the UNN Institute of Biogerontology and the Medical Institute of Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University. The results were published in the highly rated International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
