press release: The Clearity Foundation - Molecular profiling reveals differences between primary and recurrent ovarian cancers

Analysis of tumor specimens uncovers changes in biomarker expression that may have implications for therapy selection for women with recurrent ovarian cancer

 "These results demonstrate the dynamic genetic changes in ovarian cancers between diagnosis and recurrence. While the expression of these and other candidate response biomarkers should be evaluated in larger studies to better understand the clinical utility of profiling recurrent tumor specimens, this report highlights our urgent need to individualize our treatment approaches in order to improve ovarian cancer survival," says Dr. Karlan, Director of the Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and a renowned expert in the field of gynecologic oncology.

".....Ovarian cancers are very different from patient to patient, which means they are likely to respond differently to FDA-approved and investigational drugs. By identifying the alterations in each tumor's information pathways, molecular profiling enables the individualization of a patient's treatment by matching those tumor alterations with one or more drugs. The Clearity Foundation has developed a process for generating this personalized diagnostic information using commercially-available molecular profiling technologies and then analyzing the results using its Diane Barton Database."

 

 

Cancers | Free Full-Text | Assessment of the Evolution of Cancer Treatment Therapies

Note: numerous references to ovarian cancer

Conclusions

This review has tried to summarize the history and evolution of the most common types of cancer

treatments available today, but also new therapies under study in the last years. In addition to surgery,

chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hyperthermia, photodynamic therapy or immunotherapy, new

therapies are now at different stages of development trying to decrease drug toxicity in health tissues

and increase efficacy by targeting tumor angiogenesis, by exploring cell and gene therapy, or by using

new nanostructures for diagnosis or therapeutic purposes. Nanotechnology is offering new products,

which either used alone, due to their intrinsic properties, or in combination with other biomolecules

(anti-tumoral drugs, folic acid, albumin, antibodies, aptamers) could be used to target cancer cells.

However, the history tells us that the fight against cancer is not an easy task. Many types of cancers

are able to resist to conventional therapies, and different combinations of drugs and therapies

(e.g., surgery together with radiotherapy and chemotherapy) are usually the only way to destroy

tumoral cells. This may be also true for the new therapies arriving now to the clinic. Much more

studies are required but these new ways of treatment are opening doors to hope for many patients

waiting for a successful therapy

Oncologist preferences for health States associated with the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer - (interview with 34 oncologists) - abstract

Objective:
"To explore oncologists' preferences for hypothetical outcome scenarios (i.e. health states) resulting from various treatment options."
Conclusions:
"These data suggest that oncologists may choose treatments that maximize clinical efficacy only when not associated with severe toxicities or low emotional well-being unless associated with a large improvement in efficacy. Physicians may prefer a more toxic chemotherapy regimen that improves survival, and are more willing to compromise emotional well-being for a large survival advantage in the setting of newly diagnosed disease. Slight improvements in clinical efficacy may not be acceptable to oncologists unless associated with higher emotional well-being for the patient."

IU-OSU center gets $9 million more for cancer epigenetics: IU News Room: Indiana University (includes ovarian cancer)

"Over the next five years, Nephew said the OSU/IU-led team will study epigenetic changes in prostate, breast, and ovarian cancer cells that cause resistance to hormonal therapy or traditional chemotherapy. Nephew said a major objective is to identify a panel of epigenetic biomarkers for predicting responsiveness to anti-hormone treatments and chemotherapies in cancer patients."