Scottish researchers have announced the discovery of a genetic test to identify patients who will benefit from a drug for oesophageal cancer.
The drug gefitinib only benefits about 10% of patients – and the new genetic test identifies those who will benefit, according to researchers from Dundee and Aberdeen.
These patients can gain up to two years of life from the treatment, according to the researchers.
Reporting in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers say their test is the EGR FISH test.
The work emerged from a clinical trial launched in 2007. This involved some 450 patients in 50 hospitals.
Researcher Professor Russell Petty, of Dundee University school of medicine, said: “After starting the trial we quickly observed very dramatic responses in some patients with improvement of their symptoms, and while not curative the responses were durable, lasting many months, for example up to two years in some cases.
“These responses to gefitinib were transformative to patients in this situation, moving them from being severely ill, with rapidly deteriorating health and within a few months of the end of their life, to a much improved condition where we had control of their cancer’s growth and symptoms and they could return to ‘normal life’ with their families.”
He added: “In those patients where we know gefitinib will not work, we can avoid proceeding with an ineffective treatment and give them the opportunity to try alternatives.
“This really is a foot in the door which will help us get better and more effective treatments for oesophageal cancer, using the same kind of precision treatment approaches which are already being applied in some other cancers."
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