Patients with lung cancer can find hope in a new, personalized approach to treatment since Marshfield Clinic has been approved to use a therapy guided by genomic profiling.
Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation (MCRF), working with Gundersen Health System of La Crosse and St. Vincent Cancer Center of Green Bay in a collaboration called WiNCORP, is participating in a clinical trial, called Lung-MAP, to treat squamous cell lung cancer.
Squamous cell lung cancer is a common cell type of lung cancer seen in patients who smoke. More than 200,000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed annually in the United States, according to the most current data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Lung-MAP uses state-of-the-art genomic profiling to match patients to sub-studies testing investigational treatments that may target the genomic alterations, or mutations, found driving cancer growth.
“This is a unique way to treat lung cancer for patients who didn’t respond to their first line of treatment,” said Dr. Douglas Reding, oncology research director at MCRF. “This trial is trying to personalize therapy based on genetics of the patient’s tumor.”
Dr. Adedayo Onitilo, a Clinic oncologist and researcher, is the site principal investigator. Judith Petz, registered nurse, is lead clinicalresearch associate.
The primary objective is to learn whether a targeted cancer therapy matched to the genomic makeup of a patient’s lung cancer tumor is more effective than the current standard therapy in halting or reversing progress of the disease and in extending the patient’s life.
Information gathered from the trial can lead to better access for patients to promising drugs; better access for researchers to relevant enrollees based on their genomic profiles; and less time and money needed before investigational drugs can be tested.
The Lung-MAP trial will screen patient volunteers with squamous cell lung cancer and evaluate genetic characteristics of their tumors. Each patient will be assigned to one of five trial sub-studies testing an investigational drug that is best matched to the tumor’s genomic profile.
Marshfield Clinic’s Marshfield, Minocqua, Wausau, Wisconsin Rapids, Weston and Rice Lake centers, James Beck Cancer Center in Rhinelander and the Clinic’s cancer care centers at Marshfield Medical Center-Eau Claire and Ministry Saint Michael’s Hospital in Stevens Point are participating in the trial.
The Marshfield Clinic system provides patient care, research and education in more than 50 locations in northern, central and western Wisconsin, making it one of the largest comprehensive medical systems in the United States.
