Improved Treatment Outcomes by Using Patient Specific Drug Combinations in Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Activated

Timothy Crook1, Darshana Patil2, Andrew Gaya3

  • 1Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, United Kingdom.

Insights

Personalized cancer therapy combining mTOR inhibitors with other agents, guided by comprehensive tumor analysis (ETA), shows significant response and survival benefits in advanced solid organ cancers.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Therapeutics

Background:

  • The mTOR signaling pathway is a common target in cancer, but current mTOR inhibitor monotherapies offer limited benefits.
  • Monotherapy with mTOR inhibitors shows poor outcomes in label-agnostic settings based on single molecular markers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if patient-specific combination regimens with mTOR inhibitors improve treatment response and survival in advanced solid organ cancers.
  • To evaluate the efficacy of Encyclopedic Tumor Analysis (ETA) in guiding personalized combination therapies.

Main Methods:

  • 49 patients with advanced or refractory solid organ cancers received mTOR inhibitor combinations guided by ETA.
  • ETA involved multi-analyte molecular and functional tumor profiling.
  • Outcomes assessed included Objective Response Rate (ORR), Progression-Free Survival (PFS), and Overall Survival (OS).

Main Results:

  • Objective Response Rate (ORR) was 57.1% and Disease Control Rate (DCR) was 91.8%.
  • Median Progression-Free Survival (mPFS) was 4.9 months and median Overall Survival (mOS) was 9.4 months.
  • No Grade IV treatment-related adverse events or deaths occurred.

Conclusions:

  • Personalized combination regimens using mTOR inhibitors, selected via comprehensive tumor profiling (ETA), yield meaningful clinical outcomes.
  • This approach demonstrates potential for treating advanced or refractory solid organ cancers effectively and safely.

Related Concept Videos

Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine02:50

Combination Therapies and Personalized Medicine

Combining two or more treatment methods increases the life span of cancer patients while reducing damage to vital organs or tissue from the overuse of a single treatment. Combination therapy also targets different cancer-inducing pathways, thus reducing the chances of developing resistance to treatment.
The combination of the drug acetazolamide and sulforaphane is a good example of combination therapy to treat cancer. The cells in the interior of a large tumor often die due to the hypoxic and...
5.5K
Targeted Cancer Therapies02:57

Targeted Cancer Therapies

The targeted cancer therapies, also known as “molecular targeted therapies,” take advantage of the molecular and genetic differences between the cancer cells and the normal cells. It needs a thorough understanding of the cancer cells to develop drugs that can target specific molecular aspects that drive the growth, progression, and spread of cancer cells without affecting the growth and survival of other normal cells in the body.
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
8.0K
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression03:03

mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression

The mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR protein was discovered in 1994 due to its direct interaction with rapamycin. The protein gets its name from a yeast homolog called TOR. The mTOR protein complex in mammalian cells plays a major role in balancing anabolic processes such as the synthesis of proteins, lipids, and nucleotides and catabolic processes, such as autophagy in response to environmental cues, such as availability of nutrients and growth factors.
The mTOR pathway or the...
4.0K