Personalized Oncology

Personalized Oncology Services: Patient-Derived Chemosensitivity Xenografts

Development of standard chemotherapies often based on clinical trials data. While various anticancer compounds can show positive effects in certain patients, it is often a guess which chemotherapy treatment will work the best. A personalized oncology xenograft service provides such opportunity by testing chemotherapy effect outside of the patient. This is performed by xenotransplantation of patient’s tumor piece (or biopsy) in an immunocompromised mouse, letting it grow, followed by testing chemotherapy effectiveness on inhibiting the tumor growth. Results from personalized xenograft testing can show which chemotherapies (or combination of chemotherapies) can fight best against patients specific cancer.

Personalized oncology xenograft services provided by Altogen Labs: 14-Weeks Chemotherapy Testing

There are several steps in the process of obtaining a patient-derived xenograft:

  1.  A tissue sample from a patient’s tumor must be obtained (piece of tumor, or biopsy).
  2.  The tumor tissue piece (once extracted) must be transplanted in immunocompromized mice.
  3.  The tumor sample is grown in vivo for 6-8 weeks.
  4.  The tumor is dissected into several parts, and re-implanted in other set of immunocompromized mice for follow up testing.
  5.  Chemosensitivity drug test is performed (chemotherapy set can be chosen by the patient and their doctor).
  6.  The results (list of most effective chemotherapies, and/or their combination) are reported to the patient and their oncologist.

Read more about the Cost, Tumor Extraction Procedure, and Patient Responsibilities:  14 Weeks PDX and Chemotherapy Testing

Personalized oncology, also known as individualized medicine, is a type of medicine that takes into account a patient’s unique health history and genetics in order to provide the best possible care. This approach has been shown to result in measurable improvements in outcomes and a reduction on health care costs based on biomarkers research. Biomarkers are a type of test that can be used to assess the health of a patient, and personalized oncology based on biomarkers is already having a remarkable impact. Three different types of biomarkers are of particular importance: predictive, prognostic, and early response biomarkers. Predictive biomarkers can help to predict which patients are likely to respond positively to targeted cancer therapies, and this information can be used to guide treatment decisions. For example, predictive biomarkers could be used to determine which patients are likely to respond best to chemotherapy treatment. Prognostic biomarkers can help to predict the severity of a patient’s cancer, and this information can be used to guide treatment decisions. For example, prognostic biomarkers could be used to determine which patients have a high chance of surviving their cancer. Early response biomarkers can help to determine the effectiveness of cancer therapies. For example, early response biomarkers could be used to determine which patients are responding positively to chemotherapy treatment.

Molecular diagnostics identify individual cancer patients who are more likely to respond positively to targeted chemotherapies. Molecular diagnostics include testing for genes, gene expression, proteins and metabolites. The use of companion molecular diagnostics is expected to grow significantly in the future and will be integrated into new cancer therapies a single (bundled) package which will provide greater efficiency, value and cost savings. This approach represents a unique opportunity for integration, increased value in personalized oncology. The new frontier in medicine is using stem cells for personalized medicine. Read more about Altogen Labs stem cells services