Cancer Treatments Guided by DNA Testing
The patient profiled in the study has a rare form of sarcoma that often carries the ALK gene alteration. The second patient, who had a similar tumor that was not fueled by the mutant protein ALK, failed to respond to the drug confirming the inhibitor’s specificity for the abnormal protein.
Cancer researchers envision that more and more patients will be treated with a new wave of cancer treatments guided by DNA testing. They won’t get standard treatment based on where their tumor started in the body. Instead, treatments will be personalized depending on which genetic mutations are found inside their tumors. “This is a whole new world of genomic medicine,” said Dr. Demetri. “Our Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber/Harvard has contributed to this work, and we are most grateful for all the support of the Ludwig Trust in this research.”