Studies Advance Emerging Field Of "Personalized Medicine"

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 03 Jun 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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New studies in the field of pharmacogenomics pinpoint molecular characteristics that may explain how patients respond to cancer drugs, and identify new molecular diagnostic tools for cancer. The studies were released at a press briefing at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

"Advances in molecular biology are moving the field of 'personalized medicine' forward by helping researchers understand the characteristics that determine why individual patients and individual cancers respond differently to anti-cancer drugs," said Julie Gralow, MD, chair of ASCO's cancer communications committee and associate professor of medicine at the University of Washington, who moderated the press briefing. "This exciting field gives cancer doctors new tools to identify the most appropriate treatment for each patient while avoiding over-treatment with drugs that have potentially toxic side effects."

The press conference highlighted a major study featured in ASCO's plenary session:

- Researchers reported that patients with newly diagnosed metastatic colorectal cancer are most likely to benefit from the monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) when their tumors contain the normal form of the gene KRAS, compared to patients who have tumors that contain a mutated form of the gene.

The press briefing also highlighted other studies at the meeting:

- A study examined whether elderly patients were more likely to experience hematological side effects from chemotherapy if they took anti-cancer drugs that inhibited cytochrome p450 or interfered with protein binding.

- Researchers evaluated whether a test measuring messenger RNA levels of the erythropoietin receptors in the tumors of patients with head and neck cancer predicted whether they experience tumor progression after taking the anemia drug erythropoietin.

- Investigators developed a RNA blood test that may help detect lung cancer early in smokers.

For consumer-oriented information on these studies and more than 120 cancer types and cancer-related syndromes, please refer your readers to ASCO's oncologist-vetted patient website, http://www.cancer.net.

American Society of Clinical Oncology