Study Results Validate Use of Tumor Markers to Treat Metastatic Cancer

Promising results obtained in a recently conducted pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of using molecular tumor markers as the basis for selecting the chemotherapeutic agents to use in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Investigators at Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA) and collaborators at several other institutions carried out a study designed to assess the feasibility of following a treatment algorithm based on the expression of three published predictive markers of response to chemotherapy: ribonucleotide reductase catalytic subunit M1 (for gemcitabine); excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (for platinum agents); and thymidylate synthase (for 5-fluorouracil) in patients with untreated, metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Initially, 30 patients were enrolled in the study. More...