Biomarkers playing key role in US clinical trials

Biomarkers playing key role in US clinical trials

A clinical trial currently taking place in America is helping doctors to provide better prognoses for patients with breast cancer. In the UK almost 46,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 12,000 people die from the disease, every year. Survival rates are improving as scientists and doctors understand more about the disease, but out of all cancers, breast cancer remains the second biggest killer of women in Britain.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego Health System have been working with breast cancer patients to determine if it is possible considerably speed up the treatment process. The main aim of the research, known as the I-SPY clinical trials, is to find a way of better understanding how a tumour is affecting a patient, and subsequently provide them with the most effective treatment.

The first stage of the work began in 2003 and according to a report by US media outlet WPTV, the idea was for the researchers to try and predict how patients would respond to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This process is designed to reduce the size of a tumour, prior to surgery, in order to make the process as simple as possible and boost the chances of success. Using a number of MRI scans and cancer biomarkers, the researchers found that it was indeed possible to predict a patient's response to therapy and the outcome.

The I-Spy trial has been designed for breast cancer patients with inch-sized tumours, such as Piper Denlinger, who discovered last year that she was suffering from the disease. The 47-year-old opted to take part in the trial, and just a matter of weeks after treatment began, her tumour had reduced in size.

The research is set to continue for a number of years, and it is hoped that 800 patients can be involved in the trial. Hopefully, researchers will be able to find ways of reducing the cost of producing drugs and speed up the drug development process which will result in more treatments finding their way to market in a shorter time period. The sooner the drugs are available, the greater the chance that we will be able to provide suitable treatments to the millions of people suffering from breast cancer.

Cancer biomarkers are helping medical experts to understand more about the disease and research efforts will continue. No one is underestimating the importance that biomarkers database can play in this fight.

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