To each patient their most appropriate treatment. That is what can be achieved thanks to an innovative system that occurs in the magazine ‘Molecular Embo Medicine‘That combines two techniques –Genomic and proteomic– To identify and try a cancer medication in a young patient in time for treatment.
The team, led by researchers from the British Columbia University And the Research Institute of the British Columbia Children’s Hospital, both in Canada, has cultivated tumors of cancer patients in chicken eggs and analyzing their proteins.
The finding of a new drug for the patient, described in ‘Molecular Medicine’, shows how the study of proteins, known as proteomics, can be a valuable complement to the established study of genes (genomics) in real -time cancer therapies.
The study focused on a Anonymous patient diagnosed with pediatric cancer uncommon that resisted conventional treatments.
While genes contain the instructions to produce proteins, proteins themselves are the functional components of our cells. Most drugs act by modifying the activity of proteins, so the team wondered if the proteomics could reveal hidden weaknesses in tumors that genetic tests alone could overlook.
After the failure of standard chemotherapy and the appearance of tumor resistance to a selected drug by genomic, clear pharmacological candidates were found after performing more genetic tests. However, instead of stopping there, the team turned to the Proteomic And he discovered that tumor metabolism depended largely on an enzyme known as SHMT2.
“Only with genomics only, we couldn’t find a clear treatment option,” he says Philipp Lange. “But when analyzing the proteins of the tumor, we find a critical metabolic weakness that we could address with an already approved drug.”
Antidepressant
The researchers’ strategy was to use Setralinea common antidepressant, to inhibit SHMT2 and cut the tumor access to a key energy source.
To test his idea, the team used a method that consists of growing a small fragment of the patient’s tumor in a chicken egg, which acts as an avatar host of the tumor. Cultivating an identical tumor outside the patient allowed them to evaluate personalized pharmacological responses in a matter of weeks.
«The chicken egg does not have the necessary immune system to reject the implanted tumors, he explains James Lim. The chicken egg, in addition, «is characterized by high degree of vascularized, allowing the tumor to grow quickly. The egg provides the different elements that the tumor finds in the patient, that is, it has the nutrients that allow it to develop ».
“This technique accelerates the evaluation of a treatment option in a way that simply would not be possible with traditional methods,” says James Lim. We could quickly confirm if the drug identified by proteomic could be effective for the patient’s tumor ».
The egg provides the different elements that the tumor finds in the patient that allow it to grow
Gallina egg avatars are part of the initiative Brave (Better responses through avatars and evidence) in BCCHR, which connects clinics with hospital research laboratories.
The team presented its results to a panel of experts established by Propyle, who considered the sertraline as the best patient treatment option at that time.
The results were, although promising, they did not eliminate the tumor. After starting the treatment with sertraline, the growth of the tumor slowed down, but did not stop, so another treatment was necessary.
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