Study: Over 18,000 Cancer Samples Gene-Sequenced To Help Treatments
A report in AP notes that "no one has ever done so many" cancer sample genetic blueprints, and the hope is to track down new mutations that could point to future treatments. Also: A potential breakthrough in early detection of multiple myeloma.
AP:
Study Mines Cancer Genetics To Help With Targeted Treatment
Scientists have analyzed the full genetic blueprints of more than 18,000 cancer samples, finding new patterns of mutations that could help doctors provide better, more personalized treatment. Their study, published Thursday in the journal Science, isn’t the first to do such comprehensive “whole genome” analyses of cancer samples. But no one has ever done so many. (Ungar, 4/21)
Stat:
Multiple Myeloma Defies Early Detection. This Precursor Could Help
For all the recent advances in treating multiple myeloma, scientists have only inched forward in finding ways of screening or intervening early for the disease. Where the discovery of a polyp or a lump might avert progress of colon or breast cancer, blood cancer clinicians have few ways to treat patients who are on the cusp of developing cancer. “We wait, wait, and wait until people get cancer and have, like, organ damage,” said Irene Ghobrial, a hematologist-oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “Then we treat. But if we can reverse that and think of early detection — detecting it before people get it — could I completely cure myeloma? Can I prevent a whole cancer from happening? We have amazing drugs that work. We shouldn’t just wait.” (Chen, 4/21)
Stat:
Guardant Health CEOs Lay Out Their Vision For Cancer Detection
Bay Area biotech Guardant Health is closer than ever to its ultimate goal — developing and deploying a simple, blood-based test that you could get during an annual doctor’s visit to spot cancer early enough that it might be treated more successfully. And 2022 is shaping up to be a big year for the company’s ambitions. Since its founding in 2012, Guardant has grown into a $7 billion company with more than 1,400 employees and multiple tests approved by the Food and Drug Administration for both early- and late-stage cancer. These so-called liquid biopsy tests take floating bits of DNA from a blood sample and scan them for mutations and chemical modifications that are telltale signs of cancer. The company’s products are already helping doctors figure out if colon cancer patients still have any tumor left after treatment, whether a cancer has returned, and what treatments make most sense for those with advanced disease. (Wosen, 4/22)
In other research news —
The Boston Globe:
Scientists To FDA: Don’t Forget About T Cells
A group of nearly 70 academic scientists, doctors, and biotech leaders sent a letter with an unusual request to the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday: Please pay more attention to T cells, an overlooked part of the immune system that helps clear up viral infections. For much of the pandemic, COVID-19 vaccine developers and researchers have largely focused on studying antibodies induced by the shots. Neutralizing antibodies, which many labs are skilled at measuring, are essential for preventing the coronavirus from infecting our cells in the first place. Earlier in the pandemic, the Pfizer and Moderna shots triggered high levels of antibodies that prevented 95 percent of infections. But as new variants emerged, fewer of those antibodies were able to recognize the changing virus. Booster shots can help raise the level of helpful antibodies, but protection against infection is short-lived. (Cross, 4/21)
Stat:
The Good Science Project Wants To Rethink How The U.S. Funds Science
The Good Science Project is hoping to push the NIH and other government science agencies to be faster, bolder, and more efficient. The new nonprofit, launched this week, highlights simmering concerns among researchers and science policy experts across the country that the U.S. isn’t getting its money’s worth when it comes to the billions of taxpayer dollars spent each year in pursuit of new knowledge. (Facher, 4/22)
The Boston Globe:
In An Effort To Curb Lyme Disease, Scientists Hope To Release Thousands Of Genetically Altered Mice On Nantucket
As spring emerged on this island of manicured estates and idyllic beaches, a group of scientists from the Boston area arrived on a recent afternoon with an extraordinary request for local officials: Let us release hordes of genetically altered mice into the wild. Hundreds of thousands of them, potentially. The engineered rodents would look exactly like the native white-footed mice. But each of their cells would carry genetic code, specially tailored in an MIT lab, for resistance to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. White-footed mice are a key reservoir for the harmful bacteria. (Abel, 4/21)
