Genomic profiling
Washington University doctors are developing cancer treatment plans that include one of the first genetic tests to identify key changes in patients’ tumors
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis look at a plate that contains a cancer patient’s DNA. The DNA will be tested to help determine the best course of treatment based on mutations found in the patient’s genes. From left are Catherine Cottrell, PhD, Hussam Al Kateb, PhD and Shashi Kulkarni, PhD.
Physicians can now take advantage of a new genetic test—one of the earliest of its kind to be offered in the United States—that can help determine the best treatment for individual cancer patients. This is one major goal of personalized genomic medicine.
Genomics and Pathology Services at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (GPS@WUSTL) now offers a test that can examine 46 genes for mutations, or changes in the genetic material, that reveal abnormalities in tumors. The genes examined in the test are those known to be most commonly altered in cancers including those of the blood, lung, brain, pancreas, skin and breast.
Information from the test can be used by oncologists treating a variety of different types of tumors and blood cancers.
GPS@WUSTL testing also supports the discovery of new genetic markers through clinical research collaborations in oncology and other areas.
For more information, visit gps.wustl.edu or call (314) 747-7337.
