Manmeet Ahluwalia, M.D., M.B.A., deputy director, chief scientific officer and chief of solid tumor medical oncology at Miami Cancer Institute, and co-principal investigators of the trial, was featured in the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting during the Central Nervous System Tumors Track
Results from the myCare-022-03 clinical trial were released this month, demonstrating that the Cellworks Singulaä Therapy Response Index (TRI) is strongly predictive of Overall Survival (OS) and Disease-Free Survival (DFS) for Glioblastoma (GBM) patients. These predictions validate that TRI is a precise tool to assist clinicians and GBM patients in choosing between competing therapeutic options. This tool provides accurate value to physicians beyond clinical factors, such as patient age, gender and physician-prescribed treatment. Overall, the research discovered through this clinical trial has indicated great promise in predicting a specific patient’s response to immunotherapy medications using next-generation sequencing, specifically for glioblastoma.
According to the National Cancer Institute, Glioblastoma (GBM) is a fast-growing type of malignant brain tumor which accounts for 15% of all brain tumors and occurs in adults between 45 to 70 years old. Patients with GBM most commonly have a poor prognosis and usually survive less than 15 months following the initial diagnosis. Given the usual prognosis for this cancer, this clinical trial provides both physicians and patients alike a tool, which allows them to make better informed decisions for each patient’s future.
The results from the myCare-022-03 clinical study, also referred to as the Superior overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) predictions for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) using TRI, will be featured in a poster discussion session. Comments from one of the co-principal investigators of the trial, Dr. Manmeet Ahluwalia, M.D., M.B.A., deputy director, chief scientific officer and chief of solid tumor medical oncology at Miami Cancer Institute, was featured in the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting during the Central Nervous System Tumors Track. Additionally, the analysis is available online noted in Abstract 2017.
“In order to address the inconsistency in therapy response rates and empower physicians to know before they treat, we need to move beyond the prevalent one-mutation, one-drug approach,” said Dr. Manmeet Ahluwalia. In this defined study, the ability to predict patient response using Cellworks Singula was evaluated in a retrospective cohort of 100 GBM patients treated with physician-prescribed treatments and with OS and DFS calculation using the advanced multi-omics platform.
The results of the trial indicated a continuous measure scaled from 0 to 100 for alternative GBM therapeutic options, meaning that the TRI score is strongly predictive of the overall survival and disease-free survival for patients, allowing them to have a better understanding of their prognosis post diagnosis.
Dr. Ahluwalia shared, “Cellworks therapy biosimulation provides key insights into patients’ drug resistance pathways and novel biomarkers for drug response. This approach can improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs and advance personalized oncology.”
About Miami Cancer Institute
Miami Cancer Institute brings to South Florida access to personalized clinical treatments and comprehensive support services delivered with unparalleled compassion. No other cancer program in the region has the combination of cancer-fighting expertise and advanced technology—including the first proton therapy center in South Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean, and one of the only radiation oncology program in the world with each of the newest radiation therapies in one place—to diagnose and deliver precise cancer treatments that achieve the best outcomes and improve the lives of cancer patients. The Institute offers an impressive roster of established community oncologists and renowned experts, clinical researchers and genomic scientists recruited from the nation’s top cancer centers. Selected as Florida’s only member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer (MSK) Alliance, Miami Cancer Institute is part of a meaningful clinical collaboration that affords patients in South Florida access to innovative treatments and ensures that the standards of care developed by their multidisciplinary disease management teams match those at MSK.
