A genotype-to-drug diffusion model for generation of tailored anti-cancer small molecules

Despite advances in precision oncology, developing effective cancer therapeutics remains a significant challenge due to tumor heterogeneity and the limited availability of well-defined drug targets. Recent progress in generative artificial intelligence (AI) offers a promising opportunity to address this challenge by enabling the design of hit-like anti-cancer molecules conditioned on complex genomic features. We present Genotype-to-Drug Diffusion (G2D-Diff), a generative AI approach for creating small molecule-based drug structures tailored to specific cancer genotypes. G2D-Diff demonstrates exceptional performance in generating diverse, drug-like compounds that meet desired efficacy conditions for a given genotype. The model outperforms existing methods in diversity, feasibility, and condition fitness. G2D-Diff learns directly from drug response data distributions, ensuring reliable candidate generation without separate predictors. Its attention mechanism provides insights into potential cancer targets and pathways, enhancing interpretability. In triple-negative breast cancer case studies, G2D-Diff generated plausible hit-like candidates by focusing on relevant pathways. By combining realistic hit-like molecule generation with relevant pathway suggestions for specific genotypes, G2D-Diff represents a significant advance in AI-guided, personalized drug discovery. This approach has the potential to accelerate drug development for challenging cancers by streamlining hit identification.