Personalized Medicine
All women with ovarian cancer should be offered genetic testing regardless of tumor histology, said Barbara S. Norquist, MD, gynecologic oncologist, University of Washington, Seattle, at the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology meeting. She presented the results of a retrospective, tissue-based analysis of a randomized clinical trial.
A “liquid biopsy” was able to detect 2 mutations in the ESR1 gene that predicted worse overall survival (OS) in women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer who were originally enrolled in the phase 3 BOLERO-2 clinical trial, according to results presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Assessing quality care in the age of precision medicine can be challenging. In a special session at the 2016 Quality Care Symposium, various stakeholders presented their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities related to quality care in this rapidly changing landscape.
A higher score on a composite index of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), indicating genomic instability, correlated with improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with ovarian cancer who have received platinum-containing chemotherapy, according to results presented at the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology annual meeting.
Differences in 3 recently identified molecular factors in patients with metastatic renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) may explain the inferior survival rates in African-American patients versus in Caucasian patients, even in the age of targeted therapy. These factors are also associated with decreased responsiveness to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor (VEGFR)-directed therapy.
A new biomarker can identify the subgroup of class 1 uveal melanomas that are most likely to metastasize, according to a new retrospective study (Field MG, et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:1234-1242). Among class 1 uveal melanomas, those with high levels of PRAME messenger RNA (mRNA) were more likely to metastasize than those with low levels of PRAME mRNA.
A liquid biopsy using phlebotomy blood samples can identify phenotypes and genomic characteristics of circulating tumor cells that may personalize treatment selection for men with advanced prostate cancer, according to the results of a study presented by Howard I. Scher, MD, Chief, Genitourinary Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY, at the 2016 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
A panel of 4 blood-derived biomarkers showed promise as an aid to early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC). The panel yielded a negative predictive value exceeding 90% for CRC, the combination of CRC and high-risk adenomas, and colorectal plus other cancers. The biomarker assay demonstrated fair to good performance characteristics, associated with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve ranging between 0.70 and 0.80.
San Antonio, TX—A genomic classifier is now available that can predict a low or high risk for metastasis in men with prostate cancer who have rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after a prostatectomy. The good news is that this test is reimbursable by Medicare.
Boston, MA—Delivering the keynote lecture at the 2015 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, Howard L. McLeod, PharmD, Medical Director of the DeBartolo Family Personalized Medicine Institute at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, discussed advances in personalized medicine as they relate to palliative care, as well as the continuing challenges in cancer care.
