Tumor Evolution

It turns out that tumors do evolve. And the result of the evolution is that sometimes the cancer treatment stops working.

"A new study by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah observed how breast cancer tumors evolve over time and demonstrated how changes within tumors may contribute to the process by which cancers no longer respond to treatment. Further, the research identifies that some of these changes may be shared across certain treatment-resistant breast cancers."

The problem in examining tumors is getting samples because that is that can be invasive. You can't really say to a woman with breast cancer 'be sure to stop by for your yearly tumor biopsy'. They really do not want to keep the tumor around if they don't have to. So they had to be unique, which also meant a very small study size:

"For this study, Werner and her collaborators were able to trace the timeline of treatment of four breast cancer patients, over the course of between two to fifteen years for the patients analyzed. In a unique collaboration between several researchers and medical oncologists, samples of cancerous tissues were collected from breast cancer patients during their regular course of treatment. The tissue samples were then sequenced to study how the samples changed over time and how the tumors responded to each treatment. Using these data, the researchers were able to assess how changes in the tumor coincided with when the patient's cancer stopped responding to treatment."

Four patients is a very small study. However what can be learned from this study can lead to new research. Due to the invasiveness of tumor access, I can't see how tumor access is going to ever be much easier. With most patients, tumors are removed as soon as possible. I guess if there is a recurrence, presto you get a new tumor to biopsy - but if its not the same tumor does it count? Or sometimes tumors are not removed right away because chemo is used to shrink them..... But what do I know? I am a mere patient who is rambling on here.

"The ultimate goal for the researchers is to understand what is happening in a patient's tumor in as close to real time as possible, to predict what will happen next, and to adjust treatment accordingly.

Two new clinical trials set to start early next year at HCI and City of Hope will build on this research. Werner says "ultimately we want to actually predict what is really going to work best for your tumor during the course of your disease. While we're not ready to apply this to standard patient treatment now, with this work we are one step closer to doing that."

So if this tiny study is going to result in more research, I am all for it. You have to start some where and I find it fascinating that this area is one to be explored. I never really considered tumor evolution but if you think about it, tumors must acquire new characteristics as they grow in size. I'm ready to learn more and wait for more results.