Molecular Testing Options

Liquid Biopsy to Determine Patient Response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade Bookmark

Article from The ASCO Post curated by Editor in Chief George Lundberg, MD, who notes: 

Personalizing Precision Medicine with Combination Therapies Improves Outcomes in Cancer Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Precision oncology often relies on treating patients with a single, molecularly matched therapy that targets one mutation in their tumor. In a report, published online in Nature Medicine  on April 22, 2019, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that treating patients with personalized, combination therapies improved outcomes in patients with therapy resistant cancers.”

Go to full article published by UC San Diego Health on April 22, 2019.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Researchers Tap Genomic Technology to Develop Personalized Treatments for Pediatric Glioma Bookmark

Excerpt:

“Researchers at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals are using next-generation genomic technology to develop targeted therapies for high-grade pediatric glioma.

“Sabine Mueller, MD, PhD, adjunct associate professor of neurology, pediatrics and neurosurgery at University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues aim to treat as many as 44 children and young adults with this disease.”

Go to full article published by Healio on Feb 3, 2019.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Breast Cancer Testing Guidelines out of Date, Missing Genetic Screening, Study Says Bookmark

Excerpt:

“The current guidelines for genetic testing of breast cancer patients limit the number of women who can get tested. Because of these restrictions, these tests miss as many patients with hereditary cancers as they find, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

” ‘Unfortunately, insurance companies pay attention to these guidelines,’ said Dr. Peter Beitsch, co-author of the study and a cancer surgeon practicing in Texas. Insurance companies and other payers reimburse genetic testing — or not — based on the guidelines.”

Go to full article published by CNN on Dec 12, 2018.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Liquid Biopsy Shows Promise for Monitoring Childhood Brain Tumors Bookmark

Excerpt:

“New research by investigators at the University of California, San Francisco and the Children’s National Health System, has provided early evidence that liquid biopsy testing could help doctors monitor how well treatments are working in kids with diffuse midline gliomas.

“Brain cancers present a challenge for longitudinal monitoring, because obtaining repeat biopsy samples is dangerous and difficult. But liquid biopsy techniques have now opened the possibility of tracking these and other tumors over time based on analysis of tumor genetic material that is shed into the blood or other body fluids.”

Go to full article published by GenomeWeb on Oct 15, 2018.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Liquid Biopsy IDs More NSCLC Mutations, Yields Patient Therapy Response in Study of Guardant Test Bookmark

Excerpt:

“New data this week has added evidence for the value of blood-based cancer testing in non-small cell lung cancer, demonstrating in a cohort of about 300 that comprehensive liquid biopsy — in this case Guardant Health’s Guardant360 test — can help identify targeted mutations in more patients than tissue sequencing.

“The study also found that patients treated on the basis of blood-based test results respond to treatment similarly to those treated based on tissue test results.”

Go to full article published by GenomeWeb on Oct 12, 2018.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Biomarker Selects TNBC Patients for Targeted Therapy Bookmark

Excerpt from MedPage Today:

“A tumor necrosis-based gene expression signature (GS) successfully identified patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) responsive to neoadjuvant therapy with the novel targeted agent LCL161, according to researchers.

“The international, randomized phase II trial of 207 patients with localized TNBC showed that of the 30.1% with GS-positive disease, a significantly higher pathologic complete response (pCR) was seen in those treated with paclitaxel plus the inhibitor of apoptosis antagonist LCL161 compared with those treated with paclitaxel alone (38.2% versus 17.2%).”

Go to full article published by MedPage Today on Oct 5, 2018.

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Biomarkers, PARP Inhibitors Vital for Personalized Treatment in Breast Cancer Subtypes Bookmark

Excerpt from OncLive:

“Developing predictive biomarkers will be key to treating patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), especially when choosing a targeted therapy, said Banu K. Arun, MD.

“In a presentation during the 2018 OncLive^® State of the Science Summit™ on Breast Cancer, Arun said there is evidence that PARP inhibitors as well as immunotherapy in combination with various agents may be effective in women with TNBC and BRCA1-related breast cancers, but the science isn’t there yet.”

Go to full article published by OncLive on Aug 29, 2018.

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.

Study Describes Design, Validation of Foundation Medicine’s Blood-Based TMB Test Bookmark

Excerpt from GenomeWeb:

“Researchers from Genentech, Foundation Medicine, UC Davis, and other medical centers, have published a report on the development and early validation of Foundation’s planned blood-based tumor mutational burden test.

“Appearing today in Nature Medicine, the study describes the development of the test and its characteristics, and its retrospective validation in two cohorts. Investigators demonstrated, by applying the assay to samples from two clinical trials, that blood-based TMB (bTMB) could reproducibly identify lung cancer patients who respond to immunotherapy treatment with Roche/Genentech’s atezolizumab (Tecentriq).”

Go to full article published by GenomeWeb on Aug 4, 2018 (Free registration required).

If you’re wondering whether this story applies to your own cancer case or a loved one’s, we invite you to get support from Cancer Commons.