News and Announcements
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SFPM board member Diana Azzam, PhD, and researchers at FIU developed a new approach to targeting hard-to-treat cancers. The method was used successfully for the first time for relapsed pediatric patients.
Cancer patients with advanced-stage disease have poor prognosis, typically having limited options for efficacious treatment, and genomics-based therapy guidance continues to benefit only a fraction of patients. Next-generation ex vivo approaches, such as cell mass-based response testing (MRT), offer an alternative precision medicine approach for a broader population of patients with cancer, but validation of clinical feasibility and potential impact remain necessary.
Tony Letai, MD, PhD, Professor at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and President, Society for Functional Precision Medicine, led a discussion on "Functional Precision Medicine for Advanced Cancer". As we look at novel, personalized therapies, how can we have confidence that they will work?
Noah Berlow, PhD, CTO, First Ascent Biomedical, and Diana Azzam, PhD, Assistant Professor at Florida International University, led a discussion on their approach to functional drug testing and using AI/ML to guide complex treatment decisions for advanced cancer patients.
Payel Chatterjee, Chief Scientist, SEngine Precision Medicine, led a discussion on the role of organoids in guiding cancer treatment decisions. The value proposition of “functional testing” (applying 100 or more drugs to fresh tumor tissue and seeing how the cancer responds) is that this very direct approach can identify unexpected drugs to try, and extraordinary results, for some patients.
Ex vivo drug response profiling is a powerful tool to study genotype–drug response associations and is being explored as a tool set for precision medicine in cancer. Here we conducted a prospective non-interventional trial to investigate feasibility of ex vivo drug response profiling for treatment guidance in hematologic malignancies (SMARTrial, NCT03488641). We conclude that ex vivo drug response profiling is clinically feasible and has the potential to predict chemotherapy response in individuals with hematologic malignancies beyond clinically established genetic markers.
Many SFPM stalwarts will be speaking at the PMNET meeting in Riga, Latvia October 12-13. Please visit pmnetforum.com to register for in-person or virtual access to this exciting meeting!
Here we describe a case study of a patient with low grade serious ovarian cancer who underwent two rounds of chemotherapy and two surgeries. Despite this, her cancer progressed to the point that she was in rapid decline and entering hospice care. Drug testing on tumor organoids derived from the second surgical resection showed exceptional sensitivity to the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib. Although ibrutinib is not FDA approved for the treatment of ovarian cancer, the tumor board and oncologist recommended and requested its off-label use for this case. Following daily ibrutinib as a mono therapy, the patient exhibited a dramatic and prolonged clinical response, resulting in stable disease for >24 months.
Therapy-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs) contribute to the poor clinical outcomes of patients with recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) who fail standard of care (SOC) therapy. ChemoID is a clinically validated assay for identifying CSC-targeted cytotoxic therapies in solid tumors.
Join us October 12 - 13, 2023 as 50+ speakers, 400+ participants, and 20+ countries come together for one goal; to improve patient care and outcomes by promoting the development and adoption of Precision Medicine! Registration is open!