Secure Evaluation Protocol for Personalized Medicine

Abstract

The increasing availability and use of genome data for applications like personalized medicine have created opportunities for the improved diagnosis and treatment of various medical conditions. However, it has a potential to be used for discrimination, thereby presenting a set of serious challenges in privacy and security. We propose a secure evaluation algorithm to compute genomic tests that are based on a linear combination of genome data values (we use the Warfarin dosing algorithm as a representative example). Our proposal relies on a combination of partially homomorphic Paillier encryption and private information retrieval. We implement a prototype system that includes the Paillier encryption part of our protocol. Our initial evaluation demonstrates a good potential for real time use in a physician-patient scenario, with a response time of around 200ms in a Wi-Fi communications environment.