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New PREDICT project – what it means for all of us
When Anne Marshall was asked to participate in a new research project at the BC Cancer Agency’s Vancouver Island Centre she did not hesitate. Recently diagnosed with breast cancer she was eager to be involved. “Even if it can’t help me directly, it may help someone in the future,” she says.
Anne was among a group of patients who agreed to donate blood for a pilot project called PREDICT (Personal Response Determinants in Cancer Therapy). The aim is to collect blood samples from newly diagnosed cancer patients and begin building a database that scientists can use to determine why certain patients with the exact same cancer disease and circumstances have positive outcomes while others do not.
Dr. Peter Watson of the BC Cancer Agency explains: “If we can identify something in the blood of individuals that would help us ‘PREDICT’ side effects or outcomes, we would have greater success at treating our patients.”
With the success of the pilot program The BC Cancer Agency is now launching the full PREDICT project with an aim to collect over 20,000 blood samples, furthering research that will benefit patients. As for Anne she is happy to have been a part of the pilot project. “If I can help even one person it will have been worthwhile,” she says.
More about this article in the BC Cancer Foundation 2007 Report to Donors.
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