THURSDAY, May 11, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Cancer drug therapy based on a tumor's location in the body may eventually become obsolete, a new study suggests.
"We've shown that drug effect is independent of where the tumor came from in the body," Howard McLeod, director of the pharmacology core at the Siteman Cancer Center of Washington University, St. Louis, said in a prepared statement.
"If further studies confirm that a tumor-specific approach is better than the current anatomical emphasis, oncologists may have to stop thinking of themselves as colon cancer or breast cancer specialists and let the cancer tell them which drugs to use for each specific patient," said McLeod, who is also a member of the U.S. National Institutes of Health Pharmacogenetics Research Network.
His team analyzed 255 samples of eight different cancers -- colon, breast, prostate, ovary, lung, brain, melanoma and lymphoma -- and concluded that the location of the tumor did not correlate to how the cancers interacted with a standard anti-cancer drug called irinotecan.
Traditional cancer therapies have established different drug regimens for cancers located in different areas of the body, the researchers noted. Their findings suggest this approach should be replaced with treatments that use drugs that provide the greatest benefit based on the tumor's response to anti-cancer drugs.
"This study is the first time the pathway for a drug's effect has been analyzed in tumors from different anatomical locations," McLeod said.
The study appears in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Pathology.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about cancer treatments.
