Precision Medicine in Oncology®

A consortium of over 442 global investigators at 32 institutions recently reported results in over 30 publications of a decade of work from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project.

The application of molecular markers is already significantly improving the diagnosis of thyroid cancer and broader application could help prevent unnecessary surgeries to confirm the diagnosis.

Four histopathologic features of papillary microcarcinoma help predict how aggressive the tumor will be and subsequently how aggressive treatment must be to prevent its spread.

The availability of molecular agents that target oncogenic signaling pathways now offers the possibility of achieving disease stabilization in a proportion of patients with metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

Trastuzumab has demonstrated activity in patients with B-cell adult acute lymphocytic leukemia who exhibit evidence of upregulation of the HER2 receptor.

Patients with refractory non-small cell lung cancer had a statistically significant improvement in PFS when treated with targeted therapy duo versus a single agent.

A common mutation in NSCLC confers resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and worsens survival, creating a need for an alternative approach to treating the subgroup of patients with the mutation.

Dr. David Gandara from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center on Patient Selection for Molecular Testing in Lung Cancer

The Trials in Progress Poster Session at the ASCO Annual Meeting, now in its third year, is intended to stimulate discussion in the oncology community about ongoing clinical trials and to promote collaboration.

Siteman patients have access to more than 250 therapeutic clinical trials, and Siteman-affiliated scientists and physicians hold more than $165 million in annual cancer research and related training grants.

Dr. Peter Choyke, from the National Cancer Institute, Molecular Imaging Program, Discusses Current Molecular Imaging Research.

The oral hedgehog pathway inhibitor vismodegib is effective for both the prevention and treatment of basal-cell carcinoma in patients with the rare disorder known as basal-cell nevus syndrome.

Dr. Giorgio Scagliotti, from the University of Turin, San Luigi Hospital, on Combining Targeted Therapies With Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer Patients.

Dr. Aleksandar Sekulic, from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, on the Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor Vismodegib for Basal Cell Carcinoma.

Drugs that target the programmed death-1 pathway hold considerable promise for the treatment of patients with melanoma, particularly in integrating the agents into the sequence of therapy.

Pazopanib has demonstrated activity in a majority of patients with refractory urothelial cancer, providing the first evidence that targeted therapies might have a role in the disease.

Two leading researchers discuss the role of the ALK signaling pathway and development into new ALK-targeted anticancer therapies.

There has been stunning progress as preclinical findings of the ALK gene in patients with lung cancer were rapidly translated into the availability of an FDA-approved therapeutic ALK inhibitor, crizotinib.

Dr. Antoni Ribas, from UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, on the Benefits of MAPK Inhibition With Dabrafenib and Trametinib

The presence of specific molecular biomarkers may assist in determining the correct morphologic diagnosis of the particular cancer being examined.

Suzanne Fuqua, PhD, from the Baylor College of Medicine, on the Utilization of Predictive Biomarkers

Elaine Mardis, from the Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine, on Sensitivity to Aromatase Inhibitors

The development of targeted therapies for a variety of tumor types has highlighted a greater need for widespread molecular testing to determine which patients have the mutations that these therapies target.

Dr. Roy S. Herbst, from Yale Cancer Center, Explores Molecular Testing in Lung Cancer

Amid a continuing debate over healthcare spending in the United States, the oncology community is growing more introspective about the costs associated with increasingly sophisticated cancer therapeutics.