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Personalizing cancer care
06/Mar/2009
Cancer is most commonly classified by its location – in the lungs, liver, breast or elsewhere. In truth, however, every tumor is unique, and the genetic makeup of a tumor can often be more important than where it is located.

The MGH Translational Research Laboratory was established as a partnership between the MGH Cancer Center and the MGH Pathology Department to ultimately identify genetic idiosyncrasies in the tumor of nearly every cancer patient. Physicians will screen for 110 known abnormalities carried on 13 common cancer genes. By pinpointing these abnormalities, physicians will be able to better personalize a patient’s treatment – to match the tumor with the most appropriate "targeted drug"

– which may create better outcomes.

DONATION ADVANCES CANCER CARE: From left, Borger; Ellisen; Iafrate; Aid for Cancer Research members Elisa Silverman, corresponding secretary; Jamie Segill, vice president; Susan Kohen, president; Lynne Segill, board member; and Dias-Santagata
This revolutionary new practice is being made possible by a $125,000 donation from Boston charity, Aid for Cancer Research, which enabled the development and purchase of automated equipment that will accelerate the pace of genotyping tumors. Clinicians will be able to genetically profile up to 100 tumors per week, a marked increase from the current rate of 10 to 20 a week.

"This new and improved classification of cancers is intended to give oncologists more information about a specific patient’s cancer, so they can treat it in a very specific way, thereby increasing the odds of successful treatment," says A. John Iafrate, MD, PhD, executive co-director of the Translational Research Laboratory and director of the MGH Diagnostic Molecular Pathology Laboratory. Leif Ellisen, MD, PhD, an oncologist and researcher at the MGH Cancer Center is executive co-director of the laboratory, and Darrell Borger, PhD, and Dora Dias-Santagata, PhD, serve as co-directors.

The generous gift to the MGH Cancer Center was given in recognition of Aid for Cancer Research’s 60th anniversary. The organization comprises 24 volunteers and a Medical Advisory Board of local physicians.

Aid for Cancer Research brings cutting-edge technology to DF/HCC

Aid for Cancer Research (ACR), a volunteer organization of 24 women from the Greater Boston area, has been providing cancer researchers with laboratory equipment, research funding, and fellowship support for 60 years. Picking up where government assistance for cancer studies falls short, the group is well known for its ability to respond quickly to urgent needs. Nowhere is the need more pressing than in ovarian cancer research.

“Very little progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of ovarian cancer,” said ACR representative Elisa Silverman. “We’d like to see that change.”

To help make this happen, Silverman and her fellow volunteers recently made a significant gift to Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) by funding a next- generation DNA sequencer. The instrument will allow John Quackenbush, PhD, of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Dana- Farber, and his DF/HCC colleagues to conduct a comprehensive search for genetic mutations involved in ovarian cancer development, progression, and drug resistance. The equipment will also be available to scientists throughout the DF/HCC community, which includes Dana-Farber and six other Harvard-affiliated institutions.

“The fact that this DNA sequencer would be used by the consortium was very appealing,” said Silverman. “It opens it up to so many researchers.”

Quackenbush is equally excited to see the value of the gift extend beyond his own projects.

“Not only will this gift make a huge difference in helping us understand the molecular basis of chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer,” he said, “but it will also help forge collaborative bonds across DF/HCC.”

Aid for Cancer Research (ACR) representative Elisa Silver¬man and DFCI’s John Quackenbush, PhD, discuss the potential of a DNA sequencer purchased with ACR’s gift.