DNA profiling and personalised treatment helps Aussie kids survive high-risk cancers

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-06-06 19:00

Australia; NSW; VIC; QLD; SA; WA

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Genetic sequencing of tumours can help target treatments to improve survival rates for high-risk childhood cancers, according to Australian research. The study looked at around 300 children with cancers that have an expected cure rate of less than 30%. The study found that genetic sequencing allowed treatments to be specifically targeted to individual tumours, a process called precision-guided treatment, and this led to improvements in survival rates. Around 36% of patients responded to the precision-guided treatment. The study found that two-year progression-free survival with precision-guided treatment was 26% compared with 12% for standard of care and 5.2% for targeted drugs not guided by the genetic results.

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conference: Nature Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of New South Wales, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Newcastle, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), The University of Adelaide, Curtin University, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Children’s Cancer Institute

Funder: Open access funding provided through UNSW Library. Competing interests: All authors, except P.G.E., S.-L.K., L.M.S.L., J.R.H., N.G.G. and D.S.Z.,declare no competing interests. L.M.S.L. received consulting and advisory board fees from Bayer; J.R.H. received fees from Bayer, AstraZeneca/Alexion and Boxer Capital; N.G.G received fees to his institution from Bayer and Day One; D.S.Z. received fees from Bayer, AstraZeneca/Alexion, Accendatech, Novartis, Day One, FivePhusion, Amgen and Norgine, and research support from Accendatech. P.G.E. and S.-L.K. are recipients of a share in milestone and royalty payments for venetoclax development.

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