MiraDx, a Los Angeles-based company, is committed to discovering meaningful ways to better treat cancer in patients with mutations like and including the KRAS-variant. They are developing answers by applying their novel class of functional, germ-line genetic markers in both radiogenomics and cancer systemic therapy. Radiation therapy is a form of cancer treatment that is used in over 75% of cancer patients diagnosed every year. While radiation is generally a safe treatment, 5-10% of patients will experience serious side effects from treatment. Additionally, the company reports, some patients respond not only locally to radiation, but also have an immune response…
Author: Brett Johnson
“HER2 is a gene that codes for a protein sitting on the cell surface and sending signals for the cell to grow and divide,” explains Dr. Daniel Haber, Director at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Professor of Oncology at Harvard Medical School, about one of the biggest genetic discoveries in breast cancer treatment in recent years. “It has normal functions, but some cancers make use of HER2 to give themselves extra growth signals,” he continues. “In particular, there is a subset of breast cancer, around 10 percent, that have multiple copies of the gene; instead of the normal two gene…
For many children with advanced forms of neuroblastoma, receiving two separate stem cell transplants as part of their treatment is more beneficial than receiving one. That’s according to the results of an NCI-supported clinical trial conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). Children in the trial had high-risk neuroblastoma, meaning that their tumors had features that make the cancer particularly aggressive and difficult to treat. Children who received two transplants separated by several weeks lived substantially longer without their cancer progressing or developing any other cancer-related problems, an outcome known as event-free survival, than children who underwent a single transplant, reported Julie Park, M.D., of…
The Trial TMIST is a randomized breast screening trial that will help researchers learn about the best ways to find breast cancer in women who have no symptoms. It compares two types of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved digital mammography: standard digital mammography (2-D) and a newer technology called tomosynthesis mammography (3-D). 2-D mammography takes pictures from two sides of the breast to create a flat image. 3-D mammography images are taken from different angles around the breast and then built into a 3-D-like image. The goal of breast cancer screening is to find breast cancer early when it may be easier to treat. Researchers are doing this trial because they do…
The investigational drug selpercatinib may benefit patients with lung cancer whose tumors have alterations in the RET gene, according to preliminary results from a clinical trial. About 2% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have fusions between the RET gene and other DNA segments. These gene fusions can lead to the production of abnormal RET proteins that spur the growth of cancer cells. Selpercatinib (LOXO-292) is a targeted therapy that works by inhibiting the activity of abnormal RET proteins. The drug is an oral therapy that patients take as a pill. In the trial, more patients responded to the drug—that is, their tumors shrank—than has been seen with older drugs…
Men may be more likely than women to die after being diagnosed with breast cancer, particularly during the first 5 years after diagnosis, a new study suggests. In the study, the 5-year overall survival rate after a diagnosis of breast cancer was 77.6% for men, compared with 86.4% for women, researchers reported in JAMA Oncology on September 19. The findings add to previous research showing differences in death rates between men and women with breast cancer while also providing information about some of the factors that may contribute to the disparity between the sexes. One factor identified by the authors was the lack of adequate…
“The essence of precision medicine, in particular precision oncology, is to make cancer management more precise based on genomic mapping and molecular characterization of the unique tumors for each patient,” says Dr. Wei Zhang. “The cancer management that needs to be precision include diagnosis, prognosis, treatment plan, treatment monitoring, and genetic counseling.” Precision medicine, and by extension, oncology, is the buzzword of the moment among doctors and researchers, and it is more than just spin or a fad. With regards to cancer, and as our understanding of the disease has increased, the idea of a one-drug-cures-all panacea is now widely considered…
Cellanyx, a Massachusetts-based diagnostic company, has developed proprietary live tumor cell phenotypic biomarker tests to improve cancer risk-stratification and allow informed clinical decision making. Their unique approach provides quantitative and actionable information based on analysis of thousands of live tumor cells. The tests employ a microfluidic platform combined with machine vision and machine learning approaches to analyze phenotypic morphological, biochemical and biophysical markers. Cellanyx has demonstrated initial clinical proof-of-concept with its lead phenotypic test in prostate cancer. The initial clinical proof-of-concept study was conducted to demonstrate improved risk stratification in men with low and intermediate Gleason grade (6 and 7)…