Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London Cancer Institute have demonstrated that ORACLE test can better predict clinical outcomes for patients with early-stage lung cancer in comparison with other methods. These findings have been published in Nature Cancer. This could allow doctors to identify patients with early-stage lung cancer that would benefit from chemotherapy and surgery.
ORACLE was initially developed in the year 2019 and was tested on 158 people with lung cancer. Unlike other testing methods which capture only a small fraction of tumor, ORACLE analyzes the genes expressed across all tumor regions. Also, the team examined 359 lung cancer drugs to determine their potential efficacy. It was found that ORACLE showed promising results in predicting chemotherapy response. It opens up the possibility of using ORACLE to guide specific treatments as a monitoring tool.
According to Dhruva Biswas, MD, PhD, a visiting scientist at the Crick and co-first author of the study, “ORACLE can predict survival rates in patients diagnosed at the earliest stage.” Doctors could use ORACLE to make more informed decisions regarding lung cancer treatment and get better insights about the cancer.
In ORACLE test, a tumor sample is taken via biopsy and then it is analyzed in the presence of a specific set of 23 genes. It looks at how strongly each of these genes are expressed in the tumor and then a numerical risk score is generated. This score represents the risk of tumor spread.
The success of ORACLE in evaluating early-stage lung cancer helps researchers to compare the survival outcomes of patients with high ORACLE scores in comparison to those who undergo closer chemotherapy. This will help in improving survival even in those diagnosed at the earliest stage. The need for better markers is on the rise to accurately classify tumors and predict those who are at high risk.
The information shared in this blog is for educational purposes only.
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