New Genomic Tests Guide Choice Of Chemotherapy In Cancer Patients
10/24/2006 Raleigh, NC staff Biocompare Life Science News (news.biocompare.com) Scientists at Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have developed a panel of genomic tests that analyzes the unique molecular traits of a cancerous tumor and determines which chemotherapy will most aggressively attack that patient's cancer. In experiments reported in the November 2006 issue of the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers applied the genomic tests to cells derived from tumors of cancer patients. They found that the tests were 80 percent accurate in predicting which drugs would be most effective in killing the tumor. The Duke team plans to begin a clinical trial of the genomic tests in breast cancer patients next year. The new tests have the potential to save lives and reduce patients' exposure to the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, said Anil Potti, M.D., the study's lead investigator and an assistant professor of medicine in the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy. The tests are designed to help doctors select and initiate treatment with the best drug for a patient's tumor instead of trying various drugs in succession until the right one is found, Potti said. "Over 400,000 patients in the United States are treated with chemotherapy each year, without a firm basis for which drug they receive," said Joseph Nevins, Ph.D., the study's senior investigator and a professor of genetics at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy. "We believe these genomic tests have the potential to revolutionize cancer care by identifying the [...]