Genes & Cancer

Treatment of patients with refractory metastatic cancer according to molecular profiling on tumor tissue in the clinical routine: an interim-analysis of the ONCO-T-PROFILE project

Andreas Seeber1,2, Guenther Gastl1, Christian Ensinger3, Gilbert Spizzo4, Wolfgang Willenbacher1, Florian Kocher1, Christoph Leitner1, Ella Willenbacher1, Arno Amann1, Normann Steiner1, Wolfgang Eisterer1, Andreas Voss5, Kenneth Russell5 and Heinz Zwierzina1

1 Department of Haematoloy and Oncology, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria

2 Laboratory for Experimental Oncogenomics, Tyrolean Cancer Research Institute, Austria

3 Department of Pathology, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria

4 Haematooncological Day Hospital, Hospital of Merano, Italy

5 Caris Life Sciences, Basel, Switzerland

Correspondence:

Heinz Zwierzina, email:

Keywords: molecular profiling, cancer, personalized medicine, caris life sciences, next generation sequencing

Received: May 20, 2016 Accepted: October 25, 2016 Published: October 28, 2016

Abstract

Introduction: Patients with refractory metastatic cancer have been shown to benefit from molecular profiling of tumor tissue. The ONCO-T-PROFILE project was launched in March 2014 at the Innsbruck Medical University. Within 2 years our project aims to recruit 110 patients with stage IV cancer refractory to standard therapy. Our data presented here are based on an interim-analysis.

Methods: Tumor tissue specimens were submitted for molecular profiling to the certified laboratory (Caris Life Science, USA). Druggable tumor targets were selected based on biomarker status to agents with potential clinical benefit. Clinical benefit was defined as a PFS ratio (=PFS upon treatment according to the molecular profile/PFS upon the last prior therapy) ≥ 1.3.

Results: As of April 2015, tumors from 50 patients have been molecularly profiled and one or more targets were detectable in 48 specimens (98%). So far, 19 (38%) patients have been treated according to their molecular tumor profile. To date, 8 (42%) patients have reached a PFS ratio of ≥ 1.3.

Conclusions: We could show that molecular profiling is feasible in the clinical routine. A proportion of patients might benefit from an individualized treatment approach based on molecular profiling. As a result, we will proceed to enroll patients in ONCO-T-PROFILE.


PII: 121