MARCH 2010New hope for lung cancer patientsBC Cancer Agency researchers have had another breakthrough, published online by the international journal Clinical Cancer Research.
The study focuses on faster identification of chemotherapy treatments which are most likely to be successful for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
The study was led by BC Cancer Agency Senior Scientist Dr. Yuzhuo Wang, whose team used one patient’s lung tumour sample to observe the response to three different chemotherapy regimens. The results obtained in the model took six to eight weeks to complete, which could be rapid enough to be useful as a predictive test if further validated.
“I am very excited that something we developed here in the lab might have a clinical application to help physicians determine the best treatment option for their patients in the future,” said Yuzhuo Wang, “And while this particular study focused on lung cancer, I believe the method could be expanded to cover other major cancers as well.”
Many non-small cell cancer patients respond really poorly to the treatments we have available today, and because the treatments are highly toxic, if one’s not successful, you can’t try another. Up until now, clinicians are basically making educated guesses as to which treatment they think will be the most successful. But now, thanks to this test, they can actually run a simulation on the patient’s tumour tissue first, and know for an almost certain fact which one will be the most successful.
“The BC Cancer Foundation funds research such as Dr. Wang’s, at the BC Cancer Agency as the results deliver great hope for cancer patients and their families throughout B.C. and beyond,” said Douglas Nelson, President & CEO of the BC Cancer Foundation. “While lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death, one of our reasons for great optimism is this effort to move towards a more effective personalized medicine approach where clinicians will be able to select the most effective treatments for individual cases.” |
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http://www.bccancerfoundation.com/Established in 1935, the BC Cancer Foundation raises funds to support breakthrough research and enhancements to care at the BC Cancer Agency, throughout British Columbia. We maintain offices in, and provide support to, all five BC Cancer Agency regional centres - Abbotsford, Fraser Valley, Southern Interior, Vancouver and Vancouver Island. |
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