Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery for Gastric Cancer: Current Applications and Future Perspectives

Gastric cancer (GC) represents a significant global health burden, ranking as the fifth most common malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Despite recent advancements in GC treatment, the five-year survival rate for advanced-stage GC patients remains low. Consequently, there is an urgent need to identify novel drug targets and develop effective therapies. However, traditional drug discovery approaches are associated with high costs, time-consuming processes, and a high failure rate, posing challenges in meeting this critical need. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and big data in drug discovery, particularly in cancer research. AI has the potential to improve the drug discovery process by analyzing vast and complex datasets from multiple sources, enabling the prediction of compound efficacy and toxicity, as well as the optimization of drug candidates. This review provides an overview of the latest AI algorithms and big data employed in drug discovery for GC. Additionally, we examine the various applications of AI in this field, with a specific focus on therapeutic discovery. Moreover, we discuss the challenges, limitations, and prospects of emerging AI methods, which hold significant promise for advancing GC research in the future.