Cancer therapies are chosen based on results of studies of groups of patients. There has been little information available to help identify how individuals within the group respond. The KRAS-variant has been shown to significantly subgroup patients into responders or non-responders to therapies being used today as standard of care. Knowing a patient’s unique genetic make up affords the opportunity to personalize cancer therapy and ultimately get better results with improved progression free and overall survival. This is critical not only for first line therapy, but certainly when choosing a treatment for second and third line therapy.
The KRAS-variant predicts an up to six-fold increase of breast and ovarian cancer risk in women, as well as an increased risk of non-small cell lung cancer. Knowing a patient’s KRAS-variant status is an additional piece of information to help direct decisions for screening and prevention.
Up to 90% of cancer patients receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment. Currently, there are no biomarkers used to identify patients that achieve the greatest benefit from radiation, versus those that have sensitivities that may outweigh the benefits. MiraDx is developing a panel of such biomarkers, including the KRAS-variant, as well as performing individual patient testing to predict radiosensitivity.