DNA Sequencing Could Lead to Improved Clinical Oncology Treatments

Researchers have found superior method to interpret DNA sequencing that offers a better understanding of causative and actionable mutations in cancer patients.

A study published in Human Genomics performed by the Clinical Genomics group at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine sought to create a better understanding of DNA sequencing. The researchers used JAX clinical Knowledgebase (JAX-CKB), a database of clinically actionable variants found in cancer.

As well as the JAX Cancer Treatment Profile (JAX-CTP), which is a flexible sequencing platform for cancer associated genes and gene fusions.

In order to do this, physicians take a sample of a patient’s tumor or tissue to perform an analysis using the JAX-CTP. The results from the analysis that have a link to cancer are put into the JAX-CKB.

This helps identify individual therapeutic strategies, as well as possible treatment options, including clinical trials. The JAX-CKB will then take data from clinical literature, such as clinicaltrials.gov.

Researchers are then left with a clinical report that links mutations with specific therapies and current trials that are easy to read and decipher.

This takes approximately 14 days from the time of the tumor sample collection, which helps improve strategy options for patients.

Susan Mockus, PhD, manager of clinical analytics and curation, said that sharing these methods could improve this strategy and result in better outcomes for patients, despite it being proprietary and manually curated.