A Screening Method for the ALK Fusion Gene in NSCLC.
A Screening Method for the ALK Fusion Gene in NSCLC.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Front Oncol. 2012; 2: 24
Murakami Y, Mitsudomi T, Yatabe Y
Lung cancer research has recently made significant progress in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer and in developing treatments for it. Such achievements are directly utilized in clinical practice. Indeed, the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) fusion gene was first described in non-small cell lung cancer in 2007, and a molecularly targeted drug against the fusion was approved in 2011. However, lung cancer with the ALK fusion constitutes only a small fraction of lung cancers; therefore, efficient patient selection is crucial for successful treatment using the ALK inhibitor. Currently, RT-PCR, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), and immunohistochemistry are commonly used to detect the ALK fusion. Although FISH is currently the gold standard technique, there are no perfect methods for detecting these genetic alterations. In this article, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method and the possible criteria for selecting patients who are more likely to have the ALK fusion. If we can successfully screen patients, then ALK inhibitor treatment will be the best example of personalized therapy in terms of selecting patients with an uncommon genotype from a larger group with the same tumor phenotype. In other words, the personalized therapy may offer a new challenge for current clinical oncology.
HubMed – drug
ALK Inhibitors, a Pharmaceutical Perspective.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Front Oncol. 2012; 2: 17
Ardini E, Galvani A
In 2007, the ALK tyrosine kinase was described as a potential therapeutic target for a subset of non-small-cell lung cancer patients. Clinical proof of concept, culminating in the recent approval by the Food and Drug Administration of the Pfizer drug crizotinib followed in record time. The drug was approved together with a companion diagnostic for detection of patients eligible for therapy. This remarkable example of the coming of age of personalized medicine in cancer therapy is hopefully only an auspice of things to come in a rapidly developing field. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, the appearance of clinical acquired resistance to crizotinib was observed early on in clinical testing, with the identification of several ALK secondary point mutations which diminish drug efficacy and which open the way for development of second-generation inhibitors. It is also emerging that acquired resistance to crizotinib may additionally occur through ALK-independent mechanisms, which still need to be elucidated in detail. Here we discuss the factors that led to such a rapid approval of a targeted agent, and we describe the second-generation compounds currently in development.
HubMed – drug
Reconsideration of In-Silico siRNA Design Based on Feature Selection: A Cross-Platform Data Integration Perspective.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
PLoS One. 2012; 7(5): e37879
Liu Q, Zhou H, Cui J, Cao Z, Xu Y
RNA interference via exogenous short interference RNAs (siRNA) is increasingly more widely employed as a tool in gene function studies, drug target discovery and disease treatment. Currently there is a strong need for rational siRNA design to achieve more reliable and specific gene silencing; and to keep up with the increasing needs for a wider range of applications. While progress has been made in the ability to design siRNAs with specific targets, we are clearly at an infancy stage towards achieving rational design of siRNAs with high efficacy. Among the many obstacles to overcome, lack of general understanding of what sequence features of siRNAs may affect their silencing efficacy and of large-scale homogeneous data needed to carry out such association analyses represents two challenges. To address these issues, we investigated a feature-selection based in-silico siRNA design from a novel cross-platform data integration perspective. An integration analysis of 4,482 siRNAs from ten meta-datasets was conducted for ranking siRNA features, according to their possible importance to the silencing efficacy of siRNAs across heterogeneous data sources. Our ranking analysis revealed for the first time the most relevant features based on cross-platform experiments, which compares favorably with the traditional in-silico siRNA feature screening based on the small samples of individual platform data. We believe that our feature ranking analysis can offer more creditable suggestions to help improving the design of siRNA with specific silencing targets. Data and scripts are available at http://csbl.bmb.uga.edu/publications/materials/qiliu/siRNA.html.
HubMed – drug
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Health Care Costs Drop if Adolescent Substance Abusers Use 12-Step Programs
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Researchers studied 403 participants between 13 and 18 years old enrolled in Kaiser Permanente alcohol and drug treatment programs in northern California and followed their progress over seven years. Past research has shown that adolescents with drug …
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SEO Positive Acquire New Contract with Leading Private Rehab Clinic
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
The online marketing experts at SEO Positive are proud to announce the acquisition of a new SEO campaign with private alcohol and drug rehabilitation clinic, Charter Day Care. The London-based company specialise in supplying treatment and support for a …
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