New research helps to understand the molecular profile of tumors in cancer patients

Researchers at the University Hospitals in Zurich and Basel, ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich, and the pharmaceutical company Roche have set out to improve cancer diagnosis by developing a platform for state-of-the-art molecular biology techniques.

The “Tumor Profiler” project aims to derive a comprehensive molecular profile of tumors in cancer patients. This can be predicted. Effectiveness of Host of new anti-cancer drugs. Therefore, it is possible to provide the treating physician with personalized and improved treatment recommendations.

Three years ago, researchers launched a large clinical trial in 240 patients suffering from metastatic skin cancer (melanoma), metastatic ovarian cancer, or acute myeloid leukemia. A thorough examination of the tumors in these patients provides researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the cell composition and biology of each tumor. Researchers recently published details of their research design in an article in the journal Cancer Cell.

Survey at the single cell level

A new feature of the “Tumor Profiler” study is to gain new insights by leveraging a range of advanced tumor testing methods to explore ways to combine them in a clinically meaningful way.

This study goes far beyond the current use of molecular biology techniques performed in major hospitals. “We have integrated all the cutting-edge technologies available at ETH Zurich and our project partners. We have worked with doctors in Zurich and Basel to develop oncology advances that help patients,” said Professor Mitch.・ Levesque states. One of the corresponding authors of the article with the University of Zurich Hospital.

The scope of the test includes DNA, RNA, and proteins from cancer cells. Single-cell level data provides researchers with an understanding of the cell diversity of each tumor, including immune cells as well as cancer cells. “We examine the entire tumor and its microenvironment,” says Andreas Wicki, the attending physician at the University of Zurich Hospital. Part of the analysis also includes functional tests to treat tumor biopsies with drugs in the laboratory to see if the drugs work. Information from medical images and other patient data is also considered.

Notification of treatment decision

Ultimately, a huge amount of data is obtained for each patient and is prepared and analyzed using data science techniques. “

Gunnar Rätsch, Research Author, Professor, ETH Zurich

The findings of the tumor profiler will then be made available to the treating physician to discuss them in an interdisciplinary tumor committee session. In science, detailed molecular testing is referred to by terms with the suffix -omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics), so this approach, which involves so many “omics regions,” is called the multiomics approach. I will.

“I want the study of tumor profilers to show that not only is the widespread use of advanced profiling techniques in oncology possible, but it also provides specific clinical benefits,” said the Dean of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Basel Hospital. Yes, research. This is why research is also focused on whether and how molecular analysis influenced physicians’ treatment decisions.

In the long run, the Tumor Profiler approach aims to expand patient treatment options from a personalized medicine perspective. This involves addressing the question of whether a particular patient does not fall within the scope of standard tumor treatment but will benefit from approved medications for other types of cancer.

Data collection for the tumor profiler study ends after two months, after which the research team analyzes the data and presents the results.