Discovering Meaningful Ways to Better Treat Cancer Patients
We are developing answers by applying our novel class of functional, germline genetic markers to better understand individualized response to therapy and toxicity.
Radiation
Genetically Personalizing Radiation Therapy
While, generally, radiation is a safe treatment, 5-15% of patients will experience serious side effects from treatment. In addition, some patients respond not only locally to radiation but also have an immune response that can help them to fight their cancer.
MiraDx is at the forefront in this field, with a leading radiation genetics program, applying our class of microRNA binding site mutations to identify patients that respond differently to radiation. Our first publication on this problem found that patients with the KRAS-variant have a weak immune response to radiation, requiring the addition of cetuximab to help (Jama Oncology, 2016). Additional work in other cancer types, including sarcoma, breast, head and neck, and rectal cancer, is ongoing.
Our first genetic assay to personalize radiation, PROSTOX, helps prostate cancer patients avoid toxicity from radiation therapy.
Contact us if you're interested in partnering with us on genetically personalizing radiation.
Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Studies have definitively shown that KRAS-variant head and neck cancer patients respond differently to targeted agents used in standard treatment. Specifically, Cetuximab is an excellent choice for treatment. Ongoing work is evaluating the application of miRNA based germline genetics to predict both toxicity and response to chemoradiation for HNSCC patients.
Cancer Systemic Therapy
Immunotherapy
While immunotherapy has been a breakthrough in cancer treatment, patients often experience a new type of side effect, referred to as Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAE). We have found that the germline genetic mutations we study at MiraDx can help predict a patient’s risk of irAEs from checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
Our first panel, PREVIOTOX, predicts up to a 9 fold increased risk of irAEs from treatment with anti-PD1 or anti-PDL1 therapies. If you are interested in PREVIOTOX, please contact us.