From OncoLog, April 2005, Vol. 50, No. 4

In Brief: Research News from the Laboratories and Clinics of M. D. Anderson

Molecular Markers: Focusing on Individualized Cancer Care

On the basis of a $5 million gift from the Kleberg Foundation, the new Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers (the Kleberg Center), currently under construction, will provide housing for research into new advances in molecular marker research. Researchers will find ways to identify individuals at high risk for developing specific types of cancer, develop screening approaches for early diagnosis of cancer, and tailor therapy to the genetic make-up of each patient.

“Our goal is to treat each patient’s tumor based on what is happening with the biology of that person’s cancer,” said Gordon Mills, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Molecular Therapeutics and director of the Kleberg Center. “If we know which proteins are altered when cancer cells divide and multiply, we can better determine how to treat those proteins to stop cancer growth.”

The Kleberg Center’s research labs will bring together ongoing efforts to evaluate changes in tumor DNA, RNA, and proteins and determine the consequences of those changes. They will enhance the collaboration of researchers in evaluating the genetic make-up of patients to identify molecular markers for the possibility of developing cancer and for predicting susceptibility to toxic effects of particular drugs. In addition, the Kleberg Center program will support clinical trials to determine the value of molecular markers in predicting which patients are at high risk for developing cancer or have an early cancer.

The Kleberg Center will be a collaborative program, built on core programs already established at M. D. Anderson, such as those in genomics and proteomics, and will include several research programs within the institution, such as those in lung, breast, and prostate cancer and leukemia.

“We’ll establish pilot programs in certain disease sites and then share what we learn with other disease sites,” said Dr. Mills. “For instance, what we learn about molecular markers in lung cancer may be translated to breast cancer. This program is not disease-site specific.”

Genetic Blueprinting: Predicting Response to Treatment

For the first time, researchers have been able to predict how patients would respond to different treatments for esophageal cancer on the basis of individual genetic profiles.

Researchers at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report that six different gene variants can predict an improved outcome in patients treated with two different chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy, or both. For example, a combination of several gene variants in patients treated with one type of chemotherapy (5-FU) more than doubled survival to 51 months; survival was 25 months in patients treated with the same drug who did not have these variants.

They say the findings represent a leap forward in the goal to provide tailored therapy to individual patients that offers a genetic blueprint for gauging the potential effectiveness of all common esophageal cancer treatments, not just an analysis of how one or two “candidate” genes respond to a single treatment.

“Our data strongly suggest that combined pathway-based analysis may provide powerful clinical outcome predictors for esophageal cancer as well as for other cancers,” stated the study’s lead author, Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Epidemiology.

For more information on this topic or for questions about M. D. Anderson’s treatments, programs, or services, call askMDAnderson at (877) MDA-6789.

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