Genetic Sequencing Could Help Match Patients with Biomarker-Driven Cancer Trials, Treatments

The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP) recently completed a pilot study aimed at solving the practical challenges involved in quickly and systematically sequencing genetic material from patients with advanced or treatment-resistant cancer in order to match them with existing clinical trials based on the biomarkers identified.

“We’re talking about more than just examining a few genes where mutations are known to occur, or even about a hundred genes,” says co-lead investigator Dan Robinson, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at MCTP. “We’re talking about the ability to sequence more than 20,000 genes and look not just for individual genetic mutations, but at combinations of mutations.”

The exploratory study, known as the Michigan Oncology Sequencing Project (MI-ONCOSEQ), found that identifying a patient’s “mutational landscape” provides a promising approach for identifying which trials may best help a patient, the researchers say. Their findings were published today in Science Translational Medicine.

Read more at: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/583344/?sc=dwhr&xy=10006693

Clinical trials at U-M: www.UMClinicalStudies.org

Sources: Newswise; University of Michigan Health System