Cancer treatment in B.C. is about to get more personal -and more comfortable -after the announcement Monday of a world-first medical project.
Genome B.C. and the B.C. Cancer Foundation have begun a groundbreaking step in developing a genetic test over the next two years that is hoped to leave the guessing out of cancer treatment.
There are two types of treatment for cancer -chemotherapy and stem-cell transportation -says Dr. Aly Karsan, medical director for the Cancer Genetics Lab for the B.C. Cancer Agency.
"In order to provide more effective treatment, we must first understand which course of treatment a patient will respond best to," said Karsan.
"We can do this with information from the genetic signature of a patient's cancer and this can be identified through their genomic sequence."
Karsan is leading one jointly supported research project focusing on applying genomics to the management of a devastating and difficult to treat form of leukemia called Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), with which around 200 British Columbians are diagnosed yearly.
ALM has been chosen to spearhead the program because leukemias have been the most investigated form of cancer, Vancouver has world-class sequencing and analysis technology, and cell samples donated by B.C. cancer patients to study are "fresh."
mraptis@theprovince.com