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ShareMay 18, 2009 — A team of researchers, at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Germany, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, has developed a new genomics approach that enabled them to predict whether non–small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) will respond to specific therapeutics in vitro and in mouse models of lung cancer.
They hope that this information can be translated into clinical practice.
The team, led by Roman Thomas, Kwok-Kin Wong, and Matthew Meyerson, determined that the genomes of a large panel of human NSCLC cell lines are highly representative of those of primary NSCLC tumors. Using this panel of cell lines they identified genomic and molecular indicators of a response to clinically relevant drugs.
For example, cell lines with an increased number of copies of the ABL2 gene and/or an increased number of copies of the Ephrin receptor kinase and SRC kinase family genes were sensitive to treatment with a clinically used SRC/ABL inhibitor (dasatinib), both in vitro and when they were xenografted into mice.
he authors suggest that the cell line collection characterized here will provide a tool for investigating the effect of potential new anticancer drugs in genomically defined cancer types and thereby help define the patients for which a drug will be most effective.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Journal of Clinical Investigation, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Predicting drug susceptibility of non%u2013small cell lung cancers based on genetic lesions. Journal of Clinical Investigation, May 18, 2009
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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