Testing Cancer Patients for Relapse Risk

By applying immunodiagnostics to patient tumor specimens, using archived materials, researchers are correlating the results with actual patient outcomes and have identified four tests that when used in certain combinations can predict with 98% accuracy those cancer patients who will relapse and those who will not.

Although as many as 80% of patients diagnosed with cancer are told their cancer has been detected early and can be removed, about half will experience a recurrence following surgery because undetectable levels of the cancer have spread to other areas. This makes it difficult for doctors to know which patients should have debilitating chemotherapy, which can have long-term consequences. A test that could supply that information would aid their clinical decisions.

A team of 40 researchers at the Burnham Institute (La Jolla, CA, USA; www.burnham.org) have been examining diagnostic testing methods aimed at pinpointing the likelihood of cancer relapse among patients with early-stage breast, colon, or prostate cancer. The team is researching antibody tests using immunologic methods and apoptosis biology to examine the proteins encoded by various genes related to breast, prostate, and colon cancer.

One cohort, for example, is comprised of 120 patients diagnosed with early stage II colon cancer that had been resected with margins free of tumors, had received no other therapy, and were clinically followed for eight years. About half of these patients relapsed and died. Their original tumors were obtained and have been used to conduct 50-60 different types of experimental tests. Of these, four have been identified that when used in certain combinations can predict with 98% accuracy who will relapse and who will not. Confimative studies are under way. The research findings were reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) in Philadelphia (PA, USA).




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Burnham Institute