HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - circulating tumor cells as a surrogate for response to treatment

gdpawel · 08-30-2011, 02:29 PM

Rich

I have written before about how to go about a collaborative approach. You could identify informative gene expression patterns, using cell-death cell culture assays, to look for patterns of mRNA and protein expression which are predictive of chemotherapy response.

You can identify gene expression patterns (via assays) which correlate with this. But it can be hard to tell what exactly you are measuring: Is it intrinsic aggressiveness of the tumor? Sensitivity to adriamycin? Sensitivity to cyclophosphamide? Sensitivity to taxol? Sensitivity to tamoxifen? You find a gene expression panel which correlates with something, but picking apart the pieces is hard.

You can begin to do this if you combine gene expression studies with cell culture studies. Use the cell culture as the gold standard to define the difference between sensitivity and resistance. Then see which pattern correlates with which for individual tumors and individual drugs. It can theoretically be done (and certainly will be done, over time), but it's not easy.

08-30-2011, 02:29 PM	#4
gdpawel Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,080	Re: circulating tumor cells as a surrogate for response to treatment Rich I have written before about how to go about a collaborative approach. You could identify informative gene expression patterns, using cell-death cell culture assays, to look for patterns of mRNA and protein expression which are predictive of chemotherapy response. You can identify gene expression patterns (via assays) which correlate with this. But it can be hard to tell what exactly you are measuring: Is it intrinsic aggressiveness of the tumor? Sensitivity to adriamycin? Sensitivity to cyclophosphamide? Sensitivity to taxol? Sensitivity to tamoxifen? You find a gene expression panel which correlates with something, but picking apart the pieces is hard. You can begin to do this if you combine gene expression studies with cell culture studies. Use the cell culture as the gold standard to define the difference between sensitivity and resistance. Then see which pattern correlates with which for individual tumors and individual drugs. It can theoretically be done (and certainly will be done, over time), but it's not easy.