[Barbara2]

I'll share what I have in my "notes" regarding tests. This may not be what you are thinking of, but maybe...

PTEN: PTEN positive is a good thing as herceptin activates PTEN so it can stop proliferation of the Her2+ cancer cell. You can test the tumor to see if you have PTEN in the tumor.

TOPO II: predicts whether anythracyclines will help.

Oncotype DX: A test on the tumor of node negative, hormone positive cancers. It is a 21 gene analysis; gives a recurrance score of 0-100. Costs $3000. The specific goal of this test was to identify a set of reproducible prognostic factors for patients with node-negative, ER-positive breast cancer who had been treated with tamoxifen for 5 years. This reletively novel technology allows clinicians to assess risk and potential benefit from thereapy and helps avoid undertreatment or overtreatment.

Sept. 06
EGFRx(TM)
Clinical study results published at the annual meeting of the ASCO, show that a new lab test has accurately identified patients who would benefit from treatment with the molecularly-targeted anti-cancer therapies gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva).

The test can discriminate between the activity of different targeted drugs and identify situations in which it is advantageous to combine the targeted drugs with other types of cancer drugs.