The new approach accelerates personalized cancer treatment in young patients

The Pan-Canadian team has developed a new way to quickly find personalized methods of treating young patients with cancer, by growing tumors in chicken eggs and analyzing their proteins.

The team, led by scientists from the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, is the first in Canada to combine these two techniques of identification and testing of the drug for a tumor of a young patient for their treatment.

Their success in finding a new medicine for the patient, described today, shows how protein examination, known as proteomics, can be a valuable complement to the established study of genes (genomics) in real -time cancer therapies.

Work was a common effort of Profile (Precision Oncology for Young People), a key initiative of the Canadian pediatric cancer network access to a pediatric cancer network (promoting childhood cancer experience, learning and survival), which combines over 30 research and financing organizations, and over 100 researchers from all over Canada to improve the results of cancer for children and youth.

A study conducted by colleagues, Dr. Georgina Barnabas, a doctoral student researcher at the laboratory of Dr. Philipp Lange and Tariq Bhat, a PhD student at the laboratory of Dr. James Lima, focused on an unnamed patient diagnosed with a rare pediatric cancer that was based on conventional treatment.

Proteomics: complementary approach to treatment identification

While genes wear protein production instructions, proteins themselves are functional building blocks of our cells. Most drugs work by changing the activity of protein, so the band wondered if proteomics could discover hidden weaknesses in tumors, which genetic tests themselves could miss.

After the failure of the standard chemotherapy and tumor, it became resistant to the drug chosen by the genomic, no clear candidates for drugs from further genetic tests did not emerge. But instead of stopping there, the team turned to proteomics and discovered that tumor metabolism was largely based on an enzyme known as Shmt2.

“In Genomice itself, we could not find a clear treatment option,” said Dr. Lange, who together with Dr. Lim and the clinicist Dr. Rebecca Deyell are older researchers of the Michael Cuccione cancer research program in BCChr. “But looking at the protein of tumor, we found a critical metabolic weakness that we could aim at the already approved drug.”

The scientists’ strategy was the use of sertraline, a common antidepressant doctor, to braking ShMT2 and cut off tumor access to a key energy source.

Tumor replication on chicken egg

To test their idea, the team used a method including the cultivation of a small piece of patient tumor on a chicken egg, serving as a tumor avatar host. Growing an identical tumor outside the patient gave them a way to test personalized drug reactions within a few weeks.

“This technique accelerates the process of assessing the treatment options in a way that would simply not be possible with traditional methods,” said Dr. Lim. “We could quickly confirm whether the drug identified by proteomics can actually work for the patient’s tumor.”

Chicken egg avatars are part of Brave Initiative (better answers through avatars and evidence) in BCChR, which connects clinics with research laboratories in the hospital.

The team presented their results to the Panel of Experts established by Profyle, who considered sertraline as the best option to treat the patient at that time.

Encouraging results, but more work to do

The results were promising, but not cure. After starting sertraline treatment, the patient’s tumor growth slowed down, but did not stop, which means that additional treatment was still needed.

“Although there is more work to do, the study shows that our approach can provide personalized treatment recommendations quickly enough to actually help patients with rare and difficult to treat cancer,” said Dr. Lange. “We now hope to expand this method to other children to identify effective treatment methods faster throughout the country.”