Abstract ES8-2: Modeling Sensitivity to Therapeutic Agents
P. Spellman · Cancer Research · 2010
Abstract Single agent targeted chemotherapeutics are now being deployed with the goal of revolutionizing clinical treatments. It is likely that many of these agents will be successfully used to improve outcomes for patients, and potentially in patients with localized disease there may even be cures as are seen with Trastuzumab. Unfortunately it is unlikely that single agent therapies, or targeted therapies in conjunction with standard chemotherapies will provide cure to the many patients who have metastatic disease. The true challenge then is the use of multiple targeted therapies to systematically disrupt and eliminate tumors based on the use of genomic and systems modeling. Modeling therapeutic responses of individual tumors will require not just knowledge of the pathways that tumors use (or misuse) but will also require knowledge of how these pathways interact. Equally important, to avoid side effects, it will be essential to understand these systems across the body. New initiatives are now underway to construct these models (both computational and biological) and test them in the laboratory. The challenge then is to move the models from models to patients by fostering collaborative interactions between pharmaceutical companies, systems biologists, and clinicians. I will illustrate these principles by showing how we attempt to address them in our own work. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr ES8-2.