1. Pharmacogenomics

Category Archives: Pharmacogenomics

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors on Track for Better Personalization – Cancer Therapy Advisor

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Todays cancer therapies are often hailed for their ability to deliver a more personalized approach one that considers the mutations lurking in a patients tumor or proteins expressed on the surface of a patients T cells and while current therapies are largely considered improvements from some past therapies, they still stand to benefit from even more personalization.

In particular, therapies can become more personalized if they address how a persons own genomics influence response to treatment, also known as pharmacogenomics, and this type of evidence is emerging for immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Specifically, a better understanding of T-cell behavior during immune checkpoint blockade is starting to form.

Its the T cells that actually do the work, Timothy Chan, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, told Cancer Therapy Advisor. He explained that because of this, its even more important that everybodys own individual genetic make-up is examined.

In a study recently published in Nature Medicine, Dr Chan and colleagues looked at the diversity of human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) genes, which help the immune system fight off viruses, and juxtaposed it with the efficacy of antiCTLA-4 or antiPD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy in patients with metastatic melanoma or non-small cell lung cancer. The study revealed that greater evolutionary HLA-1 diversity was linked to higher T-cell infiltration into the tumor and better response to immune checkpoint blockade.1

If youre very diverse, youre likely to benefit, Dr Chan explained. It is probably the most powerful pharmacogenomics signal that I have personally seen.

HLA diversity can vary depending on where a person lives in the world, with more isolated populations being more genetically homogenous and having lower HLA diversity, and the greater the diversity, the more efficient the immune system is at fighting off infections. However, while HLA diversity is a factor thats controlled for in vaccine clinical trials, it is not routinely examined or measured in cancer clinical trials.

I actually think that that is one of the missing pieces in understanding why some trials are positive [and] some trials are negative, Dr Chan said. Its because nobody is controlling for this one aspect that is critical for the success of immune checkpoint therapy.

In fact, the lack of consideration of HLA diversity in clinical trials may even explain the mixed success tumor mutation burden has seen as a biomarker for response to immune checkpoint inhibitors to date.2 According to Dr Chan, tumor mutation burden is only half the story and that trial investigators really need to look at the other half HLA diversity.

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Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors on Track for Better Personalization - Cancer Therapy Advisor

Pharmacogenomics Services | Cancer Genetics Inc.

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Pharmacogenomics testing is used to assess the relationship between an individuals or tumors genomic makeup and a patients response to drugs compounds. Pharmacogenomic testing can be used for theranostic purposes in order to predict how a patient will respond to specific drugs. PGx testing is also playing an increasingly important role in clinical trial testing and can be used to better select trial populations by predicting drug efficacy and safety.

Cancer Genetics, Inc. offers a range of pharmacogenomics testing services for clinical oncologists, cancer centers, and research institutions, as well as for biotech and biopharma customers engaged in clinical trials.

Testing for theranostic biomarkers has become part of the standard diagnostic paradigm for many cancers. In addition to understanding an individual patients subtype or risk of disease progression, understanding whether or not they are likely to respond to certain therapy regimens is essential to determining the best way to manage a patients disease. CGI offers theranostic testing for a number of hematological and solid tumor cancers.

Click here for our clinical test menu.

We also offer a comprehensive range of pharmacogenomics testing services for biotech and biopharma companies through our Select One Clinical Trials program.

Click here to learn more about our pharmacogenomics testing services for clinical trials.

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Pharmacogenomics Services | Cancer Genetics Inc.


  1. Pharmacogenomics