Erica Rex
Scientific American
06/24/2010
The first discovery of a cancer gene marker—the BRAF oncogene for melanoma and colorectal malignancies—back in 2002 changed the way many researchers thought about cancer treatment. Rather than approach the disease based on what region of the body it stemmed from, scientists began to identify cancers in terms of their genetic signatures. Researchers now recognize more than 200 kinds of cancer—all genetically unique.
And pinpointing a genetic signature, such as EGFR mutations in lung cancer or HER2 mutations in breast cancer, can guide therapy decisions. Narrowing the treatment to a particular tumor cell type makes for a more effective—and less harmful—oncolytic approach. But a new class of cancer therapy is going even further by combining targeted treatments with personalized immune therapy.
The first of these therapies to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Provenge, hit the U.S. market in April, delivering a personalized punch to patients’ prostate tumors. Provenge, and other immunologically based treatments under development do not prevent disease the way the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine staves off cervical cancer by using a weakened or dead virus. Instead, the vaccines use killed autologous tumor cells from the patient to activate the immune system.