WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1, 2023 (HealthDay News) — The integration of precision medicine into routine cancer care is feasible and has clinical utility, according to a study published online Jan. 12 in JCO Precision Oncology.

Rachel B. Keller, Ph.D., from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues developed and implemented a precision oncology decision support system, Gastrointestinal Treatment Assistance Regarding Genomic Evaluation of Tumors. Tumor molecular profiling was reviewed for gastrointestinal (GI) tumors and molecularly informed clinical recommendations were provided, including identification of appropriate clinical trials, suggestion of targeted therapy options (on- and off-label), and consideration of additional or orthogonal molecular testing.

Genomic data were reviewed and clinical recommendations provided for 506 patients with GI cancer who underwent tumor molecular profiling between January and June 2019. Summary reports were provided to 19 medical oncologists for patients with colorectal, pancreatic, esophagogastric, biliary (39, 24, 13, and 8 percent, respectively), and other GI cancers. For 80 percent of patients, the researchers recommended one or more precision medicine clinical trials, yielding 24 enrollments. On-label and off-label targeted therapies were recommended for 6 and 25 percent of patients, respectively. Forty-two percent of patients received recommendations for additional or orthogonal testing.

“While the promise of precision oncology is yet to be fully realized, it is increasingly regarded as another tool of the trade,” the authors write. “We have described in detail an example program for the systematic assessment of molecularly guided treatment and clinical care options for patients with cancer on the basis of tumor profiling.”

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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