Chemotherapy and You

You are welcome, dear positivity.

positivity….
Research is focused on Immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted drugs. Molecular testing is of great importance to our patients as it may reveal certain alterations for one or the other (or both) is applicable.
Presently none have been approved for our cancer, but there are many research studies combining targeted drugs with immonotherapy agents, targeted drugs with various radiation treatments, immunotherapy and/or targeted drugs with cytotoxic (chemo) agents and the list continues to grow.

Additionally, the expanded access, also called “compassionate use,” provides a pathway for patients to gain access to investigational drugs, biologics and medical devices for serious diseases or conditions.
Investigational drugs and devices have not yet been approved by the FDA and they have not been proven to be safe and effective. Therefore, they may be effective in the treatment of a condition, or they may not. It is important to remember that the drug/biologic/medical device may have unexpected serious side effects and that patients need to consider all the possible risks when seeking access to an investigational medical product.
http://www.fda.gov/ForPatients/Other/ExpandedAccess/ucm20041768.htm

Nearly all pharmaceutical companies provide expanded access to patients.

Personalized Medicine:
We are in the era of personalized medicine, a form of medicine that uses information about a person’s genes, proteins, and environment to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. In cancer, personalized medicine uses specific information about a person’s tumor to help diagnose, plan treatment, find out how well treatment is working, or make a prognosis. Examples of personalized medicine include using targeted therapies to treat specific types of cancer cells, such as HER2-positive breast cancer cells, or using tumor marker testing to help diagnose cancer. Also called precision medicine.
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=561717

Hugs,
Marion

These tests are performed in a laboratory. Cells taken from the tumor are mixed with certain chemotherapy agents. The results are identification of sensitivity to these drugs.

Yes, we had this done 10 years ago, but it helped us little as at that time, few drugs were available.

Can anyone report on success with this test?

Hugs
Marion

Beatriz….so sorry, I missed this post.

To answer your question: Oncologists are not required to conduct molecular testing, but most will recommend it. Patients can request molecular testing independently. In this case they physician fills out the required form and initiates mailing of tissue sample to an independent lab such as Foundation One.
Enrollment in the ASCO TAPUR study is handled the same. Your physician will forward lab analyses to the TAPUR coordinator.

The NCI MATCH trial is handled differently in that a new biopsy must be performed and the tissue is then analyzed by their independent lab.

Blood chemo and natural sensitivity blood test are different in than molecular testing reveals genomic abnormalities in your tumor, if such are present.

Chemosensitivity tests may help predict whether the tumor is resistant to chemotherapy.

Hope this helped.

Hugs,
Marion