Machine learning and deep learning-based drug-drug interactions prediction: a systematic review focused on anticancer drugs.

Cancer patients are particularly susceptible to Drug-Drug Interactions (DDIs) due to frequent polypharmacy in oncology care. Co-administered drugs can increase toxicity or reduce effectiveness, potentially causing serious adverse events-for example, QTc-prolonging Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors with CYP3A4 inhibitors can lead to torsade de pointes. Traditional DDI identification methods are time-consuming and costly, relying mainly on in vitro and in vivo wet lab experiments, clinical studies, or post-marketing surveillance. Many Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL)-based DDI prediction models have been developed in recent decades to accelerate the identification of DDIs. We systematically reviewed ML- and DL-based DDI prediction models involving anticancer drugs. Key features of anticancer drugs involved and details of prediction models, such as the prediction tasks (existence or types of DDI) and performance, were summarised, as well as a list of newly predicted DDIs. Additionally, verification through up-to-date DrugBank and Drugs.com confirmed 22 of 96 newly predicted potential DDI drug pairs, demonstrating the practical value of these techniques. By understanding the current DDI prediction studies from both methodological and clinical standpoints, novel approaches may be tailored to the unique characteristics of oncology drugs, thereby enhancing the clinical relevance and applicability of DDI predictions.