Using Biomarkers to Guide Cancer Therapy Decisions
Doctors are currently using molecular markers, called “biomarkers,” to make treatment choices for patients with conditions like breast, colon and lung cancer. For example, breast cancers that express high levels of the protein biomarker Her2 are more likely to respond to a drug called Herceptin; patients who do not overexpress this protein require a different therapy. Similarly, in colon cancer, a particular change in a gene called KRAS is predictive of lack of response to the drug Cetuximab.
The Clearity Foundation’s Tumor Blueprint: Personalizing Ovarian Cancer Treatment
Currently, personalized treatment approaches based on biomarkers are not commonly used for ovarian cancer patients. The Clearity Foundation wants to change that.
Our mission is to transform ovarian cancer treatment by helping eligible women obtain the molecular profile of their tumor. This profile measures the levels of specific biomarkers and detects certain genetic changes that are relevant in ovarian cancer. The resulting Tumor Blueprint provides information that enables physicians to select drugs that are more likely to be effective for each patient’s individual disease. These drugs can be ones that are frequently used in ovarian cancer patients or can be new drugs that are being tested in clinical trials.
