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Fiona fox's blog
Personalised medicine has been the mantra for cancer researchers for several years, but it’s only now – with an explosion in our knowledge of the genetics of cancer – that we’re beginning to put that ambition into action.
The Institute of Cancer Research in London is taking advantage of huge advances in gene sequencing technologies to set up a new Tumour Profiling Unit that will not only allow targeting of treatments at the weaknesses of a particular cancer, but enable doctors to track the changes in tumours over time, and combat drug resistance when or where it arises. Scientists can now identify the molecular causes of drug resistance in individual metastatic sites, and are in the process of developing blood tests that allow doctors to take multiple samples of tumour DNA during the course of treatment, without the need for invasive biopsies.
But the advances in science and technology also bring questions of policy. If treatments are increasingly targeted at molecular mechanisms within individual cancers, rather than at tumour types like breast or prostate cancer, then what does that mean for our drug licensing system?
The SMC invited three leading experts from The Institute of Cancer Research to talk about the latest in their advances in tumour profiling, explain what they will do in their new unit, and set out the clinical benefits for patients of the latest research.
Speakers:
Professor Alan Ashworth, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research and Professor of Molecular Biology
Dr Amanda Swain, Team Leader in Development and Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research and Head of the new Tumour Profiling Unit
Dr Nick Turner, Clinical Researcher in Breast Cancer Research at The Institute of Cancer Research and Honorary Academic Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust