They’re called “exceptional responders.” They are cancer patients who had an unexpected and long-lived reaction to a form of treatment that few other patients—typically less than 10 percent—show. Little hard scientific information is actually available regarding these patients and their reactions, but Foundation Medicine, which specializes in genomic analysis of cancer cases, is trying to change that. The Cambridge, Mass.-based Foundation has announced that it has entered into a collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study exceptional responders. Foundation’s FoundationOne genomic profile of solid tumors will be used to analyze the tumors that will be collected for the study in an attempt to determine if there is some genetic variations that have led to the odd responses these patients have had. Tumor tissue samples from more than 300 patients labeled exceptional responders will be collected for the study. They will come from NCI-supported clinical trials, clinical studies at private sector hospitals, and cases submitted by oncologists. FoundationOne will work in collaboration with the Baylor College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Nationwide Children’s will prepare the samples for analysis. And in addition to FoundationOne’s analysis, whole exome and transcriptome RNA sequencing will be conducted at the Baylor College […]
They’re called “exceptional responders.” They are cancer patients who had an unexpected and long-lived reaction to a form of treatment that few other patients—typically less than 10 percent—show.
Little hard scientific information is actually available regarding these patients and their reactions, but Foundation Medicine, which specializes in genomic analysis of cancer cases, is trying to change that.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based Foundation has announced that it has entered into a collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study exceptional responders.
Foundation’s FoundationOne genomic profile of solid tumors will be used to analyze the tumors that will be collected for the study in an attempt to determine if there is some genetic variations that have led to the odd responses these patients have had.
Tumor tissue samples from more than 300 patients labeled exceptional responders will be collected for the study. They will come from NCI-supported clinical trials, clinical studies at private sector hospitals, and cases submitted by oncologists.
FoundationOne will work in collaboration with the Baylor College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Nationwide Children’s will prepare the samples for analysis. And in addition to FoundationOne’s analysis, whole exome and transcriptome RNA sequencing will be conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine.
“At Foundation Medicine, we are focused on understanding the unique molecular changes that contribute to a patient’s individual disease to inform treatment decisions,” said Foundation Medicine Chief Medical Officer Vincent Miller, M.D., in a statement. “The [Exceptional Responders Initiative] represents a significant opportunity to utilize advances in precision medicine to better understand outcomes, which can be applied to the future selection of treatments for patients with cancer. Every oncologist can point to a small number of their patients who have had unusually favorable responses to systemic therapies,” said Miller. “By beginning to leverage this experience, largely rooted in community practice, we hope to learn more quickly and generate critical hypotheses which can then be validated in larger cohorts.”
Financial terms of the collaboration with NCI were not disclosed.
Takeaway: Foundation Medicine will be teaming with the federal government to capitalize on one of the yet-to-be explained mysteries of personalized medicine.
