Cancer, if the treatment depends on the DNA – Repubblica.it

The uniqueness of each individual is written in his DNA, and the same goes for tumors. This is enough to understand the essence of I-Predict, the American project that involves several cancer research and treatment centers to map the genetic material of cancer and, based on the information obtained, develop targeted, tailored therapies. to each patient. One of the latest updates of the experiment showed the effectiveness of the genetic approach to healing even in cases of solid tumors refractory to conventional treatments.

• I-PREDICT
Started in February 2015 as a prospective, non-randomized clinical trial, I-Predict (more formal study of evidence related to molecular profile to determine individualized therapy for advanced or poor people) Prognosis Cancers) aims to deepen the personalized approach to tumor treatment, including considerations on treatment response and side effects
The test provides that for each patient involved are performed genomic tests on the tissue of primary tumor or metastases. Indeed, thanks to technological advances in the field of DNA sequencing, it is possible to map the complete genomic profile of cancer, to follow hundreds of different mutations and to obtain useful information in the field. clinical.
therefore, a team of experts will examine the possibility of specific combinations between found mutations and targeted drugs available. If no appropriate multi-drug approach can be identified, patients will be referred to chemotherapy at the discretion of their physician. The information collected will be used to understand whether patients respond better when they are treated according to the genomic profile of their tumor

. AGAINST ADVANCED CANCER
At the last annual congress of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco), researchers from UC San Diego and the Avera Cancer Institute presented preliminary data from their investigation, which involved 149 patients with advanced cancer. Through special laboratory tests (the complete genome profile, called Foundation Medicine), scientists were able to define the complete genomic profile (with 315 genes taken in badysis) of tumors, also evaluating PD-protein expression. L1 and the burden of mutations. The same procedure was applied to badyze circulating cancer DNA, that is, fragments of tumor genetic material in the blood

• FIRST RESULTS
Several malignant tumors examined: hepatobiliary gastrointestinal carcinomas, gynecological to cerebral, each with a unique genomic profile. Results in hand, for 73 patients, a personalized treatment strategy was designed and applied, with drug combinations (from 1 to 5) studied ad hoc. For 10 others, it was not possible to find a match between the genomic profile and the available drugs, so that the choice of the attending physician fell on the chemotherapy. During the course of the trial, no deaths were reported by the personalized treatment, which was evaluated as safe and beneficial to the patients, with the improvement of all the parameters (control of the disease progression-free survival of the disease, etc.). The results, stress the researchers, highlight not only the feasibility but especially the importance of accuracy in oncology: the direction to take goes to the timely study of the genomic profile of each individual tumor to design a therapeutic plan on measure that comes down to drug combinations rather than conventional monotherapies.