The Hindu : Front Page : For a tailored treatment regimen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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For a tailored treatment regimen

Personalised cancer management may now be based on individual genes

Termed a revolution in cancer treatment
Test could find those whose cancer may spread

BARCELONA: The treatment cancer patients receive may one day depend on their genes. With an increasing number of biological clues available to help predict cancer, doctors hope they will soon customise treatments based on individual patients’ genetic profiles.

In research work presented at a meeting of the European Cancer Organisation here, experts said these clues would help determine not only which patients would develop cancer, but who would have a relapse, or be suitable for specific treatments.

“We are going to witness a revolution in cancer treatment,” said Martine Piccart, of Institut Jules Bordet in Belgium. “In a few years, we will be able to fully demonstrate how powerful these new technologies are.” Dr. Piccart and colleagues have been working to confirm the genetic sequences for women susceptible to breast cancer.

On Monday, German researchers said they had developed a test to identify cancer cells circulating in the blood of breast cancer patients. That could potentially enable doctors to catch cancer cells en route to another location — and give them time to intervene to prevent a tumour.

Dr. Julia Juckstock and colleagues from the University of Munich analysed blood samples from 1,767 women with breast cancer before they were treated, and compared them to samples taken from 852 of the same patients after their chemotherapy.

In a small percentage of the patients tested, researchers found evidence of tumour cells in transport. “This is a fascinating development,” said John Smyth, a Professor of medical oncology at the University of Edinburgh. Instead of a blanket approach to treatment, he said, the test could help doctors pinpoint those women in whom breast cancer was likely to spread and needed extra care.

Tailoring treatment based on patients’ genes is not new; experts have been deciding how to treat women with breast cancer depending on their tumour type for the last few years.

Doctors run a simple genetic test to see which 20 per cent of women with breast cancer will actually benefit from chemotherapy, making the toxic side effects worthwhile. — AP

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