A research team at OncoDxRx has invented a liquid biopsy technology that could begin to unlock how cancer patients are likely to respond to various cancer drugs. The findings, published in the journal Onco (https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7523/4/3/12), have broad implications across drug efficacy and patient response predictions, giving clinicians the keys to make therapeutic decision quicker, sooner and more effective.

"This technology gives us a tool to begin to predict tumor vulnerability. It puts us firmly on the road to being able to identify treatment regimen predicted to work best in individual patients, enabling development of novel treatment strategies."

Being able to do this, and do it as soon as possible, is critical for patients with cancer. Customized treatments, also called personalized or precision medicine, deliver better results, fewer side effects and hopes for improving clinical outcomes. Unfortunately, only about 20–30 percent of cancer patients are eligible for precision medicine, while leaving the majority of patients (as non-responders) out of coverage of this magic umbrella.

OncoDxRx's PGA, Patient-derived Gene expression-informed Anticancer drug efficacy, is developed to specifically address this unmet clinical need.

A Grassroots Effort

Using validated liquid biopsy techniques, the group was able to profile circulating cell-free mRNA expression and pinpoint cancer type-specific gene panels - a milestone and a moment when the group knew they had a novel approach that could significantly impact patients with cancer.

"There wasn't one a-ha moment; there were many. It was a very grassroots effort," OncoDxRx said. "And we were fortunate to be able to build off of strong research that already existed in the company."

The findings open the door for next steps - which drugs will work best in a particular patient that now can be answered with greater accuracy and speed.

"The team-science approach established a revolutionary platform to predict the effects of ALL existing cancer drugs either approved, clinical trial or investigational, based on a patient's own gene signature, without having to do 20 years' worth of in vivo biological and clinical studies," OncoDxRx emphasized.

"We really need a multi-domain gene panel if we're going to defeat cancer," OncoDxRx said. "Our ultimate goal is always to improve outcomes for patients, and to do that, we have to tackle these questions from many different angles."

"It's a multifaceted disease, so it makes sense that the approach needs to be multifaceted as well. We have been able to demonstrate that the work we've been doing these past several years has yielded something that can be useful to the broader cancer patient non-responders, and that is really very meaningful."