From genetic testing to cancer research about hereditary risks, discuss the relationship between genetics and cancer with other online forum members today at CancerCompass.com. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/cancer-prevention/genetics/1,0,109.htm Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I was wondering if anyone knows of a study on a family that has experienced a variety of cancers. My family has had too many encounters with cancer to be a coincidence. I'm from a family of eight. Since 1986 there have been 4 deaths from cancer. My oldest sister (actually a half sister) now has leukemia. I have just been diagnosed with the re-emergence of a tumor that was removed two years ago (and that was benign at that time).In 1986 my mother died from lung cancer that spread to her brain.In 1987 my father died from an unusual clear cell sarcoma.In 1993 my youngest sister (34 years old) died from cervical cancer.In 2007 another sister (57 years old) died from lung cancer.If anyone can give me any guidance on possible studies I'd appreciate it. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,35143,0.htm Klaatu Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT Following is a link to a document for primary care physicians regarding HNPCC. Please pass on to your physicians. Thanks,  http://www.genome.gov/Pages/Health/HealthCareProvidersInfo/P    http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,35058,0.htm Karenb Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT I have relatives with Lynch Syndrome and have been told I should be tested.  I am willing to pay for the testing without insurance, which is what I want to do so that my insurance company will not have record of it.  However the one testing facility I contacted said the test results would go in my medical record.  Does anyone know of any facilities that will test you and keep the results completely private?  http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,34314,0.htm SAgirl Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT Please there is a site that a man told me i should go if i wanted to  know about skin cancer the site is   http://cancer-education.synthasite.com/skin-cancer.php http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,32000,0.htm jahbuzor Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT One of the problems with genetic tests is in evaluating the data which exists to validate the predictive accuracy of them. Generally, a large number of archival specimens are batch processed together, within a very narrow time frame, by the same research team, so all the technical variables are minimized, which makes it much easier to get good results than in a "real world" setting, where specimens are tested over a period of weeks, months, years, by different people, with different laboratory reagents, as occurs in the "real world."<p> Evaluating "real world" data, requires specimens that are tested as they are logged into the lab in question, in "real time." No one is publishing "real world" studies, except private laboratories performing cell-based tests, which can only do "real world" studies, because their studies require fresh, viable specimen, which must be accessioned and tested in "real time," under "real world" conditions.<p> Tests to identify molecular predisposing mechanisms still does not guarentee that a drug will be effective for an individual patient. Nor can they, for any patient or even large groups of patients, discriminate the potential for clinical activity among different agents of the same class. All the gene mutation or amplification studies can tell us is whether or not the cells are potentially susceptible to a mechanism of attack. They don't tell you if one drug is better or worse than some other drug which may target a particular pathway. <p>   It would be more advantageous to sort out what's the best "profile" in terms of which patients benefit from this drug or that drug. Can they be combined? What's the proper way to work with all the new drugs? If a drug works extremely well for a certain percentage of cancer patients, identify which ones and "personalize" their treatment. If one drug or another is working for some patients then obviously there are others who would also benefit. But, what's good for the group (population studies) may not be good for the individual. <p>   It may be very important to zero in on different genes and proteins. However, when actually taking the "targeted" drugs, do the drugs even enter the cancer cell? Once entered, does it immediately get metabolized or pumped out, or does it accumulate? In other words, will it work for every patient? <p>   All the validations of this gene or that protein provides us with a variety of sophisticated techniques to provide new insights into the tumorigenic process, but if the "targeted" drug either won't "get in" in the first place or if it gets pumped out/extruded or if it gets immediately metabolized inside the cell, it just isn't going to work. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,30966,0.htm Gdpawel Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT When I was diagnosed with breast ca in June, 2008, my oncologist took my family history. Because my mom died of breast cancer (1995) and her sister had it, as well as 2 maternal first cousins, he wanted me to have the BRCA tests.  He said that even though it was obvious we had a high familial risk, he wanted to see if the gene mutation was there, because of the increased risk for ovarian ca as well.  So I had the test, which came back positive for a mutation of the BRCA2 gene,  I am 41, and I have a 43 yr old and a 54 yr old sister.  They were able to be tested specifically for my mutation, (which was $385 rather than the entire test which cost me $3200, but my insurance paid since I had cancer), and BOTH tested positive for the mutation.My mom was 54 when she was first diagnosed.  My 54 yr old sister has Chron's disease, and her doctors advised her to have a preventative bilateral mastectomy, because she REALLY does not neet to go thru chemo/radation on top of everything else.  Shes had 4 abdominal surgeries, the last was 12 months ago, a small intestine resection, so she is seeing a gynecological oncologist about her ovaries, but she had her breasts removed 3 weeks ago.  My 43 yr old sister lives several hours away in a large city, and she saw genetic counselors, gynecologist, oncologist, surgeon, and gyn. oncologist, all within about 2 days of getting her results.  They ALL said the same thing - preventative mastectomy and oophrectomy (Ovary removal.)  Ive gone through alot of emotions since hearing all this. BOTH my sisters were VERY upset when they got their results.  I got rather testy, told one of them, what I wouldnt give to have known one year ago that I could have my breasts removed BEFOre I got cancer, and I wouldnt have had 30 lymphnodes removed, or have my hair fall out, or be violently ill for pretty much 6 months, or have to live with the fear that comes with being a STAGE 3c cancer survivor!  I go from thinking "Thank God the two of them have a much better chance of not getting this" to feeling like it is somehow MY fault that they have both decided on this very traumatic course of action. I can barely restrain myself from calling my 43 yr old sister and begging her, please just take out the ovaries, dont take your breasts off.  I have handled losing my breasts pretty well,better I think than they are, probably because I didnt feel like I had a choice if I wanted to live, and also because I havent had time to greive over them since Ive been dealing with chemo, etc.   On top of that, for the first time since I was diagnosed, I keep asking myself WHAT DID I DO?  I had regular mammos, avoided hormones, breastfed my children, dont smoke, but Im a little overweight.  One sister smokes, has never had kids, started her period befor age 12, is overweight, never exercises, has had 2 lumpectomies (Benign) and the other sister is much older, never breastfed, used the BCP, took some hormones, started her period before age 12. Believe me, I love my sisters and I never want them to be sick with any kind of illness, let alone cancer, but I cant help but wonder what it is about MY lifestyle that gave me - the youngest and healthiest, with 6 kids still to raise - the cancer.  I can only have faith that God just knew that if I got the cancer, I was healthy enough and spiritually strong enough to fight it off, and that ALL THREE of us would be cancer free and live to a ripe old age, and maybe take cruises and trips abroad together....Any comments or advice? http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,30774,0.htm blessed6 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT Are there any genetic tests for gallbladder or liver cancers? http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,30627,0.htm dllfb Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT My grandmother past-away from breast cancer in her early 80's, about 13 years ago. Her sister beat breast and colon cancer, but 2 weeks ago past-away at the age of 83. My father, who is 60, right now is fighting pancreatic cancer, and also lesions on his liver, he is in stage 4.I am worried, because my grandmother had it, my father has it, am I next to get it, Im only 34 years old. What can I do to prevent this from happing, how can I tell if Im next to get it. Someone can please help, thank you!! http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,29262,0.htm ryang74 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT I'd really like to see a list of types of cancer (ie. brain, liver etc.) that there are genetic tests for.  Does anyone know of one????  Think it would be valuable information for many. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,29181,0.htm dllfb Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT I was just diagnosed with breast cancer last month. I am scheduled to have a bilateral on july 5th. I am going on july 30 for a genetic testing. Can anyone share with me the recovery after this type of surgery and also tell me if you had the genetic test done and how it is done.Thank you    http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,25291,0.htm brown_eyes Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT I am wondering if there are ways to screen for various forms of cancer.  My father is currently battling stomach cancer, and I wonder if my sister and I could possibly be at risk due to genetics, etc.  I tend to be a hypochondriac at times, so of course every burp or bout of heartburn triggers a red flag in my brain now. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,17679,0.htm tashfish Sun, 04 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT I was wanting some advise about having genetic testing.  My situation is this my mother was dx with breast cancer at 32 my sister(twin) this past June at the age of 30, my grandmother(maternal)in her early 60's.  My sister had the genetic testing and it was confirmed that the brca-2 was neg. and the brca-1 was pos. @ 87%.  Im just really blown away with all this information.  I would like to hear from people who have gone through this and what they choose to do. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,17541,0.htm twin231 Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT Dear Friend This is only pure earth science and environment. In Vedas the air in the room has been divided in to four.Incoming breath (Prana)The air that moves up to words brain and skull, (Upana)The air that spreads equally on all parts of the body, (Samana)The air that has the power to cure the dieses, (Vyana)The remains of the air (Apana) In Veda there is not a single material that is dead. All materials have a life. Even a wood and a stone in a room can explore the activities of the medicine or chemical it has and sends out the rays and the quality of the contents. It will reflect the rays it collects with the herbal quality and the smell. The Bamboo is termed in Grass section and it has the power to absorb the acidity in the room. The pepper has the power to absorb Phlegm, mucus, saliva and the common salt has the power in retaining the moisture content in the room. The material kept in a fridge is kept for retaining its power but a sweet looses its sweetness, a Capsicum looses its hot, and salt looses its taste, so...on.This is due to the air that has shrunk by mechanical action where the Material looses its Vyana (the air that gives the property for the material) due to this the material may be cool but looses its property. The materials kept in the fridge when consumed directly by us, it is equalized by taking the air Vyana  from us  and our body looses  some Vyana, If this continues we are getting irritation in throat and seines affects us.  The air in the common room is like this.   This air in A/c room is reduced   like this. And the Vyana is sacrificed to keep our body cool. Due to this our skin is affected and a dry skin results. This has the power to change property of the gene. When the gene is affected a man suffers from cancer, T.B. etc. The environmental circumstances has the power to change the property of our gene and  If we have a close watch we can find the environmental is holding a major share in keeping our health and getting dieses. The air that we breathe is the reason for our ill health. The body and behavior of an Indian is entirely different from that a European. This is due to the environmental such as Temperature, Specific gravity  of the earth, quality of air, food and so on.,The behavior of a man in U.S., may differ from that of an Australian. Even in Europe, French is differing from German. Even the speech differ, the pronunciation differ.When environmental changes the men why it can’t it cure decease?The gene  is disturbed and floating along with the blood cells. We must unite those cells back and medicines can not achieve this. But when the skin breathes the change takes place. The somatic cell in the skin must be activated in full and this can be done with certain herbals that the physician should keep in the room.  (When a woman is pregnant the egg in the womb takes Somatic Cell from the skin of the mother for its growth until it gets a connection thro’ the belly button. This somatic cell makes a fast growth with in the child and in two/ three months the   egg gets a heart and forms bloodVessel all this is forming by taking the Somatic cell from the mother’s skin. The veins which are connecting the mother’s belly button cord with that of the still born child, caries the oxygen (Prana) goes directly goes to the heart of the still born child. The food for the child is Absorbed from the liquid in the womb and that is also Somatic cell. At the time the mother gets a side effect of constant itching in the stomach and scribing the belly and it burns. Simultaneously the womb develops acidity (Piththa) which is responsible for eye sight of the child. When the growth of the Somatic cell falls due to varies reason the child gets affected. For this reason in olden days the pregnant ladies were asked to apply Curcuma-Longa which increases the strength of the Somatic Cells) When a man is affected with cancer  The sense needs to be activated and this can be achieved only if the brain cell gets warmness. This can not be achieved through drugs. But we can get this by changing the atmosphere.  Here the origin of the patient and his gene should be tested and his family back ground his food and other habits should be studied and cross examined. The place of treatment should be analyzed. A treatment in U.S may differ from U.K. and in India. An Indian patient in coma treated in U.S is entirely different from an American treated in the same hospital because of the gene.The Yajur Veda says this. The application of the herbal on a human is selected after studying the soil. The prasana Upanishad explains this. When we get Head ache this may be due to vacuum in fore head veins, or due to water or due to twisting of veins. The doctor prescribes Anacin for all which is bad and not advisable. If vacuum is filled with air the head ache goes I can add more and more. Finally a word if you change the room condition by placing certain herbals and woods and certain salts we can make the Vyana strength and this will regain the sense of the patient in coma. That’s what the Vedas are telling. In Yajur Veda the tobacco is mentioned as “Malapatra and thalapatra”. In olden days (B.C. 5000) the warriors use to sleep on this to get extra energy so that they can fight more vigorously during day time. The Muhals and English misunderstood the heat generated by the body, burns the Malapatra and gives energy thro skin cells., they wanted quick action and took the smoke of Tobacco directly in to the lungs and believed that they are getting energy. This is how the Smoking habit started.Based on this theory I suggested Upholstery leather tanned with tobacco and the coma patient can be laid, and the tannins in tobacco penetrates thro’ the skin of the patient. The leather can create warmness in the body and the Somatic cells are activated and the patient can recover. As per Vedas the human body is made with five elements, namelyi) Earth, ii) Water iii) Air, iv) Heat and v) Universe Here the earth is the gene of the patient.Water is the http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,14622,0.htm Ramachandranr Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT These are the results of hemoglobin electroforesis of my 3 year old daughter Hgb F 15.8 (range 0-2) Hgb A2 2.6 (range 2-3) Complete blood count results WHITE BLOOD CELLS WBC 11.93 (4.5-10.2) NEUT 28 (50-70) LYM 62 (25-40) MONO 8 (3-7) EOS 2 (0-3) RED BLOOD CELLS RBC 5.90 (94.2-5.4) Hb 12.9 (12-16) Ht 36.8 (38-47) MCV 62.4 (80-96) MCH 21.9 (27-31) MCHC 35.1 (32-36) RDW-CV 24.2 (11.6-14.8) PLT 445 (140-450) PCT 0.42 (0.14-0.45) MPV 9.5 (7.4-10.4) PDW 10.1 (9-17) Father has trait but we are worried for other probable causes of the abnormal values (esp.HgbF) I'd appreciate any input. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,14286,0.htm mother1 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new genetic test that could help patients with early-stage breast cancer predict their chance of relapse within 5 or 10 years, information that could save many patients from the discomfort of unnecessary chemotherapy.<p>The MammaPrint test looks at the expression of 70 genes linked to breast cancer, can accurately assess a patient's risk of recurrence or death. The correlations of this are vastly superior to those obtained with standard prognostic markers.<p>The 70 genes in a woman's tumor analyzed by MammaPrint predict the 10-year survival of the patient at a significance level over three times greater than existing methods and with an accuracy level of 96.7% as determined by a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.<p>Existing methods can't distinguish the patients with a high risk for recurrence from those with low risk with comparable accuracy. This new gene expression profiling test enables the oncologist and breast surgeon to more accurately determine who should be treated.<p>This test has been shown to be superior over conventional assessment of risk of future metastatic disease, such as histological assessment of tumor aggressiveness (by grade). One gets more accurate information when using intact RNA isolated from "fresh" tissue than from using degraded RNA, which is present in paraffin-fixed tissues.<p>For the vast majority of cancer patients, the cancer will not recur regardless of whether they receive chemotherapy. So they are exposed needlessly to the treatment, which can cause myelosuppression, mucositis, cardiac problems, peripheral neuropathy, central neurotoxicity, or leukemia. Doctors cannot tell, however, which patients needed the chemotherapy.<p>These laboratory tests are a tool for the oncologist. The oncologist should take advantage of all the tools available to him/her to treat a patient. And since studies show that only 25-30% of patients do respond to chemotherapy that is available to them, there should be due consideration to looking at the advantage of molecular and cellular assay tests to the resistance that has been found to chemotherapy drugs.<p>Because of this, there is a good portion of cancer patients that are either undertreated or overtreated because there was no adequate information on who will recur. These tests can enhance the ability to distinguish between low risk and high risk patients. Patients in the high-risk group, who would benefit from chemotherapy can then be pre-tested to see what treatments have the best opportunity of being successful, and offers a better chance of tumor response resulting in progression-free survival, while those in the lower-risk groups can be spared the unnecessary toxicity, particularly associated with ineffective treatment.<p>These tests have enormous implications for the short-term future of cancer research in general, and is one of the truly great cancer breakthroughs of our time. This DNA microarray will prove to be highly complementary to the parellel breakthrough efforts in targeted therapy through cell culture assays like the EGFRx™ Assay.<p>Cell Culture Assays can prospectively report to a physician specifically which chemotherapy agent would benefit a high risk cancer patient by testing that patient’s live cancer cells. Drug sensitivity profiles differ significantly among cancer patients even when diagnosed with the same cancer. Knowing the drug sensitivity profile of a specific cancer patient allows the treating oncologists to prescribe chemotherapy that will be the most effective against the tumor cells of that patient.<p>Every breast cancer patient should have her own unique chemotherapy trial based on consultation of pathogenic profiles and drug sensitivity testing data. Research and application of these tests are being encouraged by growing patient demands, scientific advances and medical ethics. These tests are not a luxury but an absolute necessity, and a powerful strategy that cannot be overlooked. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,14150,0.htm Gdpawel Sun, 08 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT What do you think? http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,13231,0.htm Vipergtsrz Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT I like them http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,13230,0.htm Vipergtsrz Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT does anyone know if eating soya products is bad if u have brca1? they could produce estorgens as they are flavanoids: so if you have ovarian cancer & brca1 and shouldnt eat meat or dairy products (or soya!) what do u eat?!harriet http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,12229,0.htm Harrietg Mon, 21 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT The new genomic test - Lung Metagene Predictor - is supposed to tell physicians which lung cancer patients will benefit from chemotherapy and which ones do not need to be unnecessarily exposed to toxic chemotherapy cocktails.The test doesn't predict which patients will benefit from chemotherapy (i.e. which patients are chemosensitive). Rather, it's like the Oncotype Dx test, which identifies patients who are unlikely to have a recurrence if treated with surgery alone. If you aren't going to have a recurrence, you don't need chemotherapy.The test doesn't do anything to indicate if chemotherapy would or would not be helpful for those patients at higher risk for recurrence, much less which chemotherapy would be most likely to be helpful. Also, the test has a 10% false reassurance rate (10% of the good prognosis patients none the less recurred).A genomic test can help to find out if a cancer patient will benefit from chemotherapy or not, and if they do, Whole Cell Profiling can help see what treatments have the best opportunity of being successful. Other tests, such as those which identify DNA, or RNA sequences or expression of individual proteins often examine only one component of a much larger, interactive process.Whole Cell Profiling (via Cell Function Analysis) measures the response of the tumor cells to drug exposure. Following this exposure, they measure both cell metabolism and cell morphology. The integrated effect of the drugs on the whole cell, resulting in a cellular response to the drug, measuring the interaction of the entire genome. No matter which genes are being affected, Whole Cell Profiling is measuring them through the surrogate of measuring if the cell is alive or dead.For example, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a protein on the surface of a cell. EGFR inhibiting drugs certainly do target specific genes, but even knowing what genes the drugs target doesn't tell you the whole story. Both Iressa and Tarceva target EGFR protein-tyrosine kinases. But all the EGFR mutation or amplificaton studies can tell us is whether or not the cells are potentially susceptible to this mechanism of attack.It doesn't tell you if Iressa is better or worse than Tarceva or other drugs which may target this. There are differences. The drugs have to get inside the cells in order to target anything. So, in different tumors, either Iressa or Tarceva might get in better or worse than the other. And the drugs may also be inactivated at different rates, also contributing to sensitivity versus resistance.One of the most promising new approaches that may deal with early detection of cancer is called Proteomics (Protein Expression Analysis), the study of proteins in the cells, tissues and body fluids. Even before a tumor can be felt, some researchers have found, the tumor begins secreting a distinctive pattern, or fingerprint of proteins. Here, you go beyond genes (DNA, the Genomic Analysis or structure of the human genome) and beyond Gene Expression (the measure of RNA content, like Her2/neu in breast cancer) to measure the actual proteins themselves.Genomic Analysis is only important insofar as it influences Gene Expression Analysis, which is only important insofar as it influences Protein Expression Analysis (Proteonomics), which is only important insofar as it influences Protein Function Analysis (are proteins active or inactive), which is only important insofar as it influences Cell Function Analysis (cell culture testing), which is only important insofar as it influences Disease Analysis (doing something to treat the patient and then making a measurement on the patient with CT/PET scanning), in that order. There is an inverse hierachy between relevance and ease of measurement.There are many pathways to altered cellular (forest) function (hence all the different "trees" which correlate in different situations). It serves to validate Whole Cell Profiling. The forest is looked at, and not the trees. Whole Cell Profiling measures what happens at the end (the effects on the forest), rather than the status of the individual trees. Cancer is a complex disease and needs to be attacked on many fronts. The best thing to do is to combine these different tests in ways which make the most sense. The future of cancer therapy will be personalized treatments for individual patients, and will require a combination of novel diagnostics and therapeutics.Improving cancer patient diagnosis and treatment through a combination of cellular and gene-based testing will offer predictive insight into the nature of an individual's particular cancer and enable oncologists to prescribe treatment more in keeping with the heterogeneity of the disease. The biologies are very different and the response to given drugs is very different. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,10980,0.htm Gdpawel Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT A new laboratory test that identifies patients who benefit most from targeted cancer drugs was introduced at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as the test's accuracy is sure to save hundreds of lives per year. This could help solve the problem of knowing which patients can tolerate costly, new treatments and their harmful side-effects. The "smart" drugs do not work for everyone, and a test to determine the efficacy of these drugs in a patient could be the first crucial step in personalizing treatment to the individual.According to Chemical & Engineering News, targeted "small-molecule" therapies ruled at the annual ASCO meeting of oncologists. The most exciting results shown came from studies of multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors, small molecules that act on multiple receptors in the cancerous cells, like Tykerb and Sutent. The trend is away from the monoclonals to the small molecules, a trend which the new EGFRx™ Assay may be able to hasten.The EGFRx™ Assay will test molecularly-targeted anti-cancer drugs therapies Iressa, Tarceva, Sutent and Nexavar, because of being small molecules. The monoclonal antibodies like Herceptin and Erbitux are "enormous" molecules. These very large molecules don't have a convenient way of getting access to the large majority of cells. Plus, there is multicellular resistance, the drugs affecting only the cells on the outside may not kill these cells if they are in contact with cells on the inside, which are protected from the drug. The cells may pass small molecules back and forth.However, drugs like Avastin (although a monoclonal antibody) can be tested with the EGFRx™ Assay because the target of Avastin is not the cells themselves, but rather a hormone (VEGF) secreted by the tumor cells. The Avastin complexes with free VEGF and blocks its action. The EGFRx™ Assay can discriminate between the activity of different targeted drugs and identify situations in which it is advantageous to combine the targeted drugs with other types of cancer drugs. All the more reason to "test the tumor first."Most patients are treated not with a targeted therapy drug alone but with a combination of chemotherapy drugs. Therefore, existing DNA and RNA tests do not reflect the way cancer medicine is practiced today. The EGFRx™ Assay, developed by The Weisenthal Cancer Group relies upon a technique known as "Whole Cell Profiling" in which living tumour cells are removed from an individual cancer patient and exposed in the laboratory to the new drugs.A variety of metabolic and apoptotic measurements are then used to determine if a specific drug was successful at killing the patient's cancer cells. The whole cell profiling method differs from other tests in that it assesses the activity of a drug upon combined effect of all cellular processes, using several metabolic (cell metabolism) and morphologic (structure) endpoints, at the cell "population" level (measuring the interaction of the entire genome), rather than at the "single cell" level. Other tests, such as those which identify DNA or RNA sequences or expression of individual proteins often examine only one component of a much larger, interactive process.Over the past few years, researchers have put enormous efforts into genetic profiling as a way of predicting patient response to targeted therapies. However, no gene-based test can discriminate differing levels of anti-tumor activity occurring among different targeted therapy drugs. Nor can an available gene-based test identify situations in which it is advantageous to combine a targeted drug with other types of conventional cancer drugs. So far, only Whole Cell Profiling has demonstrated this critical ability.Not only is this an important predictive test that is available "today," but it is also a unique tool that can help to identify newer and better drugs, evaluate promising drug combinations, and serve as a "gold standard" correlative model with which to develop new DNA, RNA, and protein-based tests that better predict for drug activity.These "targeting" drugs are expensive, costing patients and insurance carriers $5,000 to $7,000 or more per month of treatment. Patients, physicians, insurance carriers, and the FDA are all calling for the discovery of predictive tests that allow for rational and cost-effective use of these drugs.The Whole Cell Profiling approach, holds the key to solving some of the problems confronting a healthcare system that is seeking ways to best allocate available resources while accomplishing the critical task of matching individual patients with the treatments most likely to benefit them.Source:http://weisenthal.org/ex_targeted_egfr_kinase.pdf http://weisenthal.org:80/slide.057.jpg http://weisenthal.org:80/slide.058.jpg http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,10113,0.htm Gdpawel Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT my grandmother and mother both had pancreatic cancer, my mother is still batteling, and i need to get a genetic test for this i was told, but do not know what to do, or where to go, in chicago IL,any ifo appreciated. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,6528,0.htm 7princess Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT