Tool may predict response to chemotherapy

A new method of predicting a patient’s response to chemotherapy for bowel cancer has been developed by Irish scientists.

The prediction tool could help identify individuals who will not respond to chemotherapy and will need alternative therapies.

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in Ireland with about 2,300 people diagnosed every year.

It is also the second most common cause of cancer death in Ireland, according to the Irish Cancer Society.

According to scientists of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, who developed the prediction tool model, believe it could be applied to other cancers eventually.

The tool measures the amount of drug required for a cancer cell to die without harming healthy tissue. It may also be used in trials to develop new treatments.

Lead researcher, Prof Jochen Prehn, said it took four years to develop the tool that detects mutations in the tumour. While some patients responded well to chemotherapy, others did not and, very often, the cancer was found to have spread to other organs.

“We want to predict those who do not respond well and see whether we can provide a different therapy — one that would be more targeted at their specific tumour,” he said.

The research team found different ways of looking at specific proteins in tissue.

The results of their study are published in the latest issue of the journal, Cancer Research.

The tool cannot be used in a clinical setting yet, but researchers are hoping to have it in such a format it can be embedded in trials over the next two years.