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gdpawel · 12-14-2011, 06:09 PM

Rich

Symposium on Circulating Tumor Cells and Chemosensitivity Testing
Santa Monica, December 7–9, 2011

Robert Nagourney, MD, founder of Rational Therapeutics, Inc., Long Beach, CA, was a featured speaker at The Symposium on Circulating Tumor Cells and Chemosensitivity Testing, December 7 – 9, at Loews Beach Hotel, Santa Monica, CA.

The academic conference was sponsored by the Angeles Clinic Foundation, as a result of a generous gift from the Farrah Fawcett Foundation. Fawcett died in 2009 at St. John’s Health Center after a lengthy battle against cancer, but was a believer in what is being called Personalized Cancer Cytometrics -- a decision by investigators in the field, who decided that they should actually come up with a name which everyone will agree to use.

This was the first symposium of it's kind to be offered in the world and the development of this type of technology was the hope and dream of Farah Fawcett whose foundation has supported the development of this symposium. Ms. Fawcett had chemotherapy through the John Wayne Cancer Institute of which The Angeles Clinic is affiliated.

The invitation only symposium brought together the world’s prominent researchers in this area in order to raise awareness and explore current methods of cancer treatment including assays. Although the symposium was a very closed affair, a formal "White Paper" is being produced and a there may be a formal peer-reviewed publication coming out of it.

Dr. Nagourney, a board certified oncologist and hematologist and noted expert on chemosensitivity testing for more than 20 years, will highlight the lack of progress made in this arena due in part to the politics and economics of cancer treatment. “Physicians tend to follow standardized guidelines or ‘off the shelf treatments’ that provide the same traditional chemotherapy agent to every cancer patient. The treatments work adequately well, the schedules are established, the toxicities are well known, and no one is cured.”

Dr. Nagourney, who recently addressed the situation at a TEDx symposium, sees an overwhelming need to spread the message this conference addressed – using cell-death cell culture assays, which provide a functional profile of how the cancer will respond to treatment.

Dr. Nagourney says, “Combining diagnostic skill with scientific insight, the physician becomes the captain of the ship.” He adds that assay-directed approaches can provide objective data that is then used to guide treatment selections. “Predicated upon an understanding of the patient’s tumor biology, cancer therapy becomes an intellectual exercise that draws upon literature and a knowledge of pharmacology and physiology,” he says.

HealthNewsDigest.com

As there had been a death in my family, my ability to attend the entire conference was limited and I could only particpate the afternoon session. The symposium included several areas of investigation, including circulating tumor cell analysis, molecular profiling and functional analytic platforms. I had the opportunity to sit in on several presentations including one by Dr. Weisenthal, who gave an overview of his seminal contributions to the field followed by his discussion of his work on VEGF inhibition and the crosstalk between other classes of tyrosine kinase inhibitors and endothelial (vascular) cell viability. Dr. Presant gave a presenation on their work with the MiCK assay, with a focus upon leukemia studies and their developing work on solid tumors. My impression is that we made a fundamental transition. In the past I was repeatedly confronted by oncologists who said: ”We could not do this.” Today the question appears to be more: “How best can we do this?" In that regard there has been progress. - Robert Nagourney

12-14-2011, 06:09 PM	#10
gdpawel Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,080	Symposium on Circulating Tumor Cells and Chemosensitivity Testing Rich Symposium on Circulating Tumor Cells and Chemosensitivity Testing Santa Monica, December 7–9, 2011 Robert Nagourney, MD, founder of Rational Therapeutics, Inc., Long Beach, CA, was a featured speaker at The Symposium on Circulating Tumor Cells and Chemosensitivity Testing, December 7 – 9, at Loews Beach Hotel, Santa Monica, CA. The academic conference was sponsored by the Angeles Clinic Foundation, as a result of a generous gift from the Farrah Fawcett Foundation. Fawcett died in 2009 at St. John’s Health Center after a lengthy battle against cancer, but was a believer in what is being called Personalized Cancer Cytometrics -- a decision by investigators in the field, who decided that they should actually come up with a name which everyone will agree to use. This was the first symposium of it's kind to be offered in the world and the development of this type of technology was the hope and dream of Farah Fawcett whose foundation has supported the development of this symposium. Ms. Fawcett had chemotherapy through the John Wayne Cancer Institute of which The Angeles Clinic is affiliated. The invitation only symposium brought together the world’s prominent researchers in this area in order to raise awareness and explore current methods of cancer treatment including assays. Although the symposium was a very closed affair, a formal "White Paper" is being produced and a there may be a formal peer-reviewed publication coming out of it. Dr. Nagourney, a board certified oncologist and hematologist and noted expert on chemosensitivity testing for more than 20 years, will highlight the lack of progress made in this arena due in part to the politics and economics of cancer treatment. “Physicians tend to follow standardized guidelines or ‘off the shelf treatments’ that provide the same traditional chemotherapy agent to every cancer patient. The treatments work adequately well, the schedules are established, the toxicities are well known, and no one is cured.” Dr. Nagourney, who recently addressed the situation at a TEDx symposium, sees an overwhelming need to spread the message this conference addressed – using cell-death cell culture assays, which provide a functional profile of how the cancer will respond to treatment. Dr. Nagourney says, “Combining diagnostic skill with scientific insight, the physician becomes the captain of the ship.” He adds that assay-directed approaches can provide objective data that is then used to guide treatment selections. “Predicated upon an understanding of the patient’s tumor biology, cancer therapy becomes an intellectual exercise that draws upon literature and a knowledge of pharmacology and physiology,” he says. HealthNewsDigest.com As there had been a death in my family, my ability to attend the entire conference was limited and I could only particpate the afternoon session. The symposium included several areas of investigation, including circulating tumor cell analysis, molecular profiling and functional analytic platforms. I had the opportunity to sit in on several presentations including one by Dr. Weisenthal, who gave an overview of his seminal contributions to the field followed by his discussion of his work on VEGF inhibition and the crosstalk between other classes of tyrosine kinase inhibitors and endothelial (vascular) cell viability. Dr. Presant gave a presenation on their work with the MiCK assay, with a focus upon leukemia studies and their developing work on solid tumors. My impression is that we made a fundamental transition. In the past I was repeatedly confronted by oncologists who said: ”We could not do this.” Today the question appears to be more: “How best can we do this?" In that regard there has been progress. - Robert Nagourney