by: Anna Williams
This story originally appeared in the northwestern breakthroughs newsletter
It’s a concept that seems simple, but it’s poised to transform the field of cancer care and research: All patients, and their cancers, are unique.
It’s also an approach that the physicians and scientists at OncoSET, the flagship clinical and research program of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, take to heart every day.
Launched in 2015, OncoSET is the Lurie Cancer Center’s entry into the emerging precision medicine movement. Through an innovative three-step process — Sequence, Evaluate, Treat — the clinic combines oncology with genomic sequencing to provide cutting-edge cancer care personalized for each patient.
The OncoSET process begins with a blood draw from a patient for a liquid biopsy (in some cases, a tissue biopsy is available as well). Through its collaborations with commercial partners, OncoSET leverages next-generation genomic sequencing to produce a genomic profile of a patient’s tumors and pinpoints changes in specific genes.
The program’s Molecular Tumor Board, co-directed by Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, director of OncoSET and associate director for Translational Research and Precision Medicine at the Lurie Cancer Center and Amir Behdad, MD, assistant professor of Pathology, discusses and analyzes each patient’s individual genomic profile, one by one. In this evaluation stage, it’s all hands on deck: The multidisciplinary team includes medical, surgical and radiation oncologists, as well as pathologists, molecular scientists, radiologists, bioethicists, pharmacologists and cancer geneticists, among other experts.
With input from scientists across a range of specialties, the board draws up a comprehensive report for each patient, detailing the results of the sequencing and devising an optimal treatment plan. That treatment, based on the molecularly defined targets, might include an available drug or enrollment in an early-stage clinical trial being conducted at Northwestern.
“We’ve created the first clinic in Chicago — and one of only a few in the country — where it doesn’t matter where the tumor is located,” explained Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD, director of the Lurie Cancer Center, and the Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology. “What matters now is the composition of the tumor, and the patient’s genomic analysis.”
Since its inception last year, the Molecular Tumor Board has evaluated the genetic profiles of more than 80 patients, all of whom had advanced disease or cancer that was unresponsive to standard treatment. Not only has the model helped to make a real difference in individual outcomes, but the hope is that data collected through the clinic may eventually serve as the building blocks of tomorrow’s cures.
To refer a patient or request a consultation contact:
312-926-1089 Tel or 312-694-0543 Fax
E-mail: [email protected]
http://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2017/04/pioneering-precision-medicine-in-cancer/
This story originally appeared in the northwestern breakthroughs newsletter
It’s a concept that seems simple, but it’s poised to transform the field of cancer care and research: All patients, and their cancers, are unique.
It’s also an approach that the physicians and scientists at OncoSET, the flagship clinical and research program of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, take to heart every day.
Launched in 2015, OncoSET is the Lurie Cancer Center’s entry into the emerging precision medicine movement. Through an innovative three-step process — Sequence, Evaluate, Treat — the clinic combines oncology with genomic sequencing to provide cutting-edge cancer care personalized for each patient.
The OncoSET process begins with a blood draw from a patient for a liquid biopsy (in some cases, a tissue biopsy is available as well). Through its collaborations with commercial partners, OncoSET leverages next-generation genomic sequencing to produce a genomic profile of a patient’s tumors and pinpoints changes in specific genes.
The program’s Molecular Tumor Board, co-directed by Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, director of OncoSET and associate director for Translational Research and Precision Medicine at the Lurie Cancer Center and Amir Behdad, MD, assistant professor of Pathology, discusses and analyzes each patient’s individual genomic profile, one by one. In this evaluation stage, it’s all hands on deck: The multidisciplinary team includes medical, surgical and radiation oncologists, as well as pathologists, molecular scientists, radiologists, bioethicists, pharmacologists and cancer geneticists, among other experts.
With input from scientists across a range of specialties, the board draws up a comprehensive report for each patient, detailing the results of the sequencing and devising an optimal treatment plan. That treatment, based on the molecularly defined targets, might include an available drug or enrollment in an early-stage clinical trial being conducted at Northwestern.
“We’ve created the first clinic in Chicago — and one of only a few in the country — where it doesn’t matter where the tumor is located,” explained Leonidas Platanias, MD, PhD, director of the Lurie Cancer Center, and the Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology. “What matters now is the composition of the tumor, and the patient’s genomic analysis.”
Since its inception last year, the Molecular Tumor Board has evaluated the genetic profiles of more than 80 patients, all of whom had advanced disease or cancer that was unresponsive to standard treatment. Not only has the model helped to make a real difference in individual outcomes, but the hope is that data collected through the clinic may eventually serve as the building blocks of tomorrow’s cures.
To refer a patient or request a consultation contact:
312-926-1089 Tel or 312-694-0543 Fax
E-mail: [email protected]
http://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2017/04/pioneering-precision-medicine-in-cancer/
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