CHICAGO (GenomeWeb) – Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, will use NantHealth's GPS Cancer molecular analysis test to support a new research study on metastatic breast cancer.
Culver City, California-based NantHealth announced today that it will support UCSF in a pilot study of comprehensive molecular profiling in women with the disease. As part of their collaboration, UCSF and NantHealth will collect tissue samples and clinical information from patients with either metastatic or recurrent breast cancer to test various forms of molecular profiling for clinical care. They will then create a workflow to test the feasibility of real-time profiling to support clinical decision-making, evaluate "actionable" biomarkers, and record whether the results of the GPS Cancer tests affect patient care.
Specifically, researchers will study to what degree analysis of gene mutations, gene expression, and protein expression is helpful for patient care. They also will look at immune markers within tumor architecture.
"We understand that every patient responds to treatment differently, making it imperative for us to develop effective, personalized treatment options to fight stage IV breast cancer," Hope Rugo, director of the breast oncology clinical trials program at UCSF and co-principal investigator of this study, said in a statement. "My team and I are looking forward to this study and are confident that we will have a better understanding of how molecular profiling plays into physicians' treatment decisions."
NantHealth Chairman and CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong added that Rugo, her co-investigator Denise Wolf, and their research team "have the knowledge, resources, and expertise to be successful in exploring the relationship of immune profiling with tumor characteristics and molecular profiling in patients diagnosed with this form of breast cancer."