RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:POCThis is from the introduction of TH1902 and the rest of the SORT1+ platform:
Tumour heterogeneity
Intra- and inter-tumoural heterogeneity Γ006 Cancer is a devious foe, revealing new complexities just as scientists find new ways to tackle them. A recent hope has been put in the new generation of "targeted therapeutics" that home in on specific molecular defects in cancer cells, promising more effective and less toxic therapy than imprecise chemotherapeutic agents (Fisher, 2013). However, researchers are now realizing that they may have previously under estimated one of cancer's oldest and best-known complexity: tumour heterogeneity. This, in part, explains the successes and disappointments with targeted therapeutics and should motivate a broader re-examination of current research strategies.
Γ007 Tumour heterogeneity refers to the existence of subpopulations of cells, with distinct genotypes and phenotypes that may harbour divergent biological behaviours, within a primary tumour and its metastases, or between tumours of the same histopathological subtype (intra- and inter-tumour, respectively) (Corbin, 2013). With the advent of deep sequencing techniques, the extent and prevalence of intra- and inter- tumour heterogeneity is increasingly acknowledged. There are features of intra-tumour heterogeneity that form part of routine pathologic assessment, but its determination does not yet form part of the clinical decision-making process. Nuclear pleomorphism is another example of intra-tumour heterogeneity, which is accounted for in breast cancer grading, for instance. It is also readily apparent to clinicians treating cancer that there is marked variation in tumour behaviour between patients with the same tumour type, and between different tumour sites in the same patient; the latter is usually manifested as differential or mixed responses to therapy.
SPCEO1 wrote:
1.) In the patient who showed 53% tumor shrinkage on the targeted tumors, how many tumors were targetted. We know one tumor 100% resolved so, were there just two tumors being tracked and the other one barely shrunk at all? If so why would that be? Juniper88's wife saw pretty serious tumor shrinkage on some tumors but others grew. What explains these different reactions? If some tumors react and others don't what does that imply for TH-1902's future?