Bekim Sadikovic’s team finds expanded DNA testing opened new options for 28 per cent of cancer patients

A study led by researchers at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry and the London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute tested 554 cancer patients at the Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre with expanded DNA testing. Called Precision Oncology at Western University, or POWER, it appeared in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Nearly one in three patients were eligible for therapies not typically used for their type of cancer.

Standard testing looks at a small number of genes. This study used next-generation sequencing to analyze hundreds of cancer-related genes at once. Seventy-nine per cent of patients had a clinically relevant variant, and 28 per cent became eligible for clinical trials, off-label therapies or compassionate access programs that had been out of reach.

Bekim Sadikovic, PhD, a pathology professor and co-principal investigator who heads the Verspeeten Clinical Genome Centre, said broader testing can find important changes in a tumour’s DNA. Dr. Stephen Welch, head of medical oncology, said evidence like this helps doctors guide patients toward options with real potential.