Molecular Profiling of Exceptional Responders to Cancer Therapy.

CONCLUSIONS: The genomic instability detected in our exceptional responders, plus treatment with DNA damage compounds combined with favorable anticancer immunity, may have contributed to exceptional responses to standard anticancer therapies in the patients studied. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: With recent advances in the treatment of cancer, there is increased emphasis on the importance of identifying molecular markers to predict treatment response and outcomes, thereby allowing precision oncology. In this study, we hypothesized that there is a "specific biologic signature" in the biology of the cancer in long-term survivors that allows sensitivity to systemic therapy and durability of response. We found that DNA damage repair pathway alterations, combined with favorable anticancer immunity, may have contributed to exceptional responses to standard anticancer therapies in exceptional responders analyzed in this single-center retrospective study. It is very likely that an in-depth examination of outlier responses will become a standard component of drug development in the future. PMID: 33210795 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The Oncologist - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Oncologist Source Type: research