(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Scientific advances in genomics now allow doctors to explore thousands of genes in the human body, identify their functions and pinpoint where mutations exist. It’s research that is unlocking causes and potential treatments for a wide range of disorders and diseases – including cancer. New treatments being studied at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC—James) target specific gene mutations that may be affecting how a patient’s cancer grows and responds to treatment. They’re advancements that are giving hope to patients who don’t respond well to traditional treatments.
“There may be hundreds of gene mutations in someone’s cancer. Discovering which are driving how cancer behaves and treating the mutation with novel therapies is the basis of precision cancer medicine research,” said Sameek Roychowdhury, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist and member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at OSUCCC—James. “Our research has found that specific mutations in fibroblast growth factor receptors, or FGFR, allow cancer cells to grow and invade quickly and aggressively, and by using medications to shut down signals from those mutated genes, we hope to slow or stop cancer growth.”
To further study how cancers with FGFR mutations respond to new medications, Roychowdhury and his team conducted a series of basket trials. Unlike most clinical trials that enroll patients based on their type of cancer, like breast or colon cancer, basket trials enroll patients based on a shared genetic trait.
“Rather than treating patients with lung cancer in one trial and breast cancer in another, we put them all together, a ‘basket’ of different cancers with common genetics,” Roychowdhury said. “The qualifying feature for these trials is a genetic mutation that we believe is important to how cancer behaves and that we have a drug we believe will target that mutation.”
With successful trial results for those with FGFR mutations, researchers are looking for ways to expand treatments to more patients. An upcoming clinical trial at OSUCCC—James will be conducted entirely via telehealth, a first for pancreatic cancer clinical trials, allowing patients from all over the country to participate and giving them unprecedented access to the latest treatments. The trial medication is an oral pill that is shipped to patients’ homes, follow up appointments are conducted via telemedicine and researchers partner with patients’ local oncologists for routine check–ups and blood work.
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