Genome-wide DNA analysis personalizes breast cancer treatment
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have launched a project dedicated to the development of methods for the selection of personalized breast cancer therapy in accordance with the characteristics of the genome of the patients themselves and their tumor cells. Within the framework of the project with the flirtatious name BEAUTY (B r ea st Cancer Genome G u ided T herapy Stud y), researchers will analyze three genome–wide DNA sequences for each patient: one for healthy cells and two for malignant cells before and after chemotherapy. Each of the study participants will have a mouse "avatar" that will help doctors in selecting the optimal individual treatment method.
The first phase of the BEAUTY project will involve 200 women whose cell genomes will be analyzed for mutations that allow tumors to adapt and survive during chemotherapy. The information obtained will help doctors identify new drugs and therapeutic strategies.
For women at high risk of relapse who are scheduled to undergo a standard course of chemotherapy followed by surgical removal of the tumor, DNA sequencing of healthy cells and tumor cells will be performed prior to treatment. The DNA of residual malignant cells removed during surgery will also be sequenced to identify mutations that ensured their survival under chemotherapy.
In addition, cancer cells obtained during biopsy (before treatment) and during surgery are implanted in immunodeficient mice whose body does not reject other people's tissues. This will allow researchers to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy on the tumors of individual patients and determine the optimal treatment methods without risk and harm to women.
The described approach – pharmacogenomics – is only part of the work carried out at the Mayo Clinic, the purpose of which is to personalize medicine, the ideal model of which is to prescribe to a particular patient the "right" drug in the "right" dose and at the "right" time.
The clinic's specialists do not plan to limit themselves to breast cancer and in the future they are going to use this method to study the possibilities of treating many types of cancer.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the Mayo Clinic:
Mayo Clinic Launches Whole Genome Breast Cancer Study.
11.04.2012