Quantum-Enhanced Classification of Brain Tumors Using DNA Microarray Gene Expression Profiles

Abstract

DNA microarray technology enables the simultaneous measurement of expression levels of thousands of genes, thereby facilitating the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases such as brain tumors and the identification of diagnostic genetic signatures. To derive meaningful biological insights from the high-dimensional and complex gene features obtained through this technology and to analyze gene properties in detail, classical artificial intelligence (Al)-based approaches such as machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) are widely employed. However, these methods face various limitations in managing high-dimensional vector spaces and modeling the intricate relationships among genes. In particular, challenges such as hyperparameter tuning, computational costs, and high processing power requirements can hinder their efficiency. To overcome these limitations, quantum computing and quantum computing-based Al approaches are gaining increasing attention. Leveraging quantum properties such as superposition and entanglement, quantum methods enable more efficient parallel processing of high-dimensional data and offer faster and more effective solutions to problems that are computationally demanding for classical methods. In this study, a novel model called DeepVQC is proposed, based on the Variational Quantum Classifier (VQC) approach. Developed using microarray data containing 54,676 gene features, the model successfully classified four different types of brain tumors-ependymoma, glioblastoma, medulloblastoma, and pilocytic astrocytoma-alongside healthy samples with high accuracy. Furthermore, compared to classical ML algorithms, the Deep VQC model demonstrated either superior or comparable classification performance. These results highlight the potential of quantum AI methods as an effective and promising approach for the analysis and classification of complex structures such as brain tumors based on gene expression features.