Micro-RNA in CLL and Why it Matters (Part 2)

[bkoffman]

On my blog ( bkoffman.blogspot.com ), in the second part of the interview from iwCLL 2013, Dr. Calin discusses why we should think about micro-RNA as hormones preventing cells death in CLL.

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Thanks Brian,

I fully agree with you on the importance of having better predictive tests so that we can individualize therapies. Sadly available predictive testing in Australia is still very primitive, which means that some patients are subjected unnecessarily to drugs that just don't work for them - causing temporary and perhaps long term side effects for no benefit...

Neil

[bkoffman CLL CURE Hero]

As prices for next generation sequencing fall, then hopefully, the tests we need will become more available.

[HAIRBEAR_UK Founder Admin]

Our newsletter went out today as soon as it is on an URL I will post it. In it is an article showing there is UK progress as prices come down Oxford with the help of CLLSA members are working on a study to aid new testing introduction.

Excerpt:

”Genomic testing and CLL: An update on a study being conducted by

the University of Oxford

James Buchanan, Sarah Wordsworth and Anna Schuh

Most CLL patients are treated with chemoimmunotherapy as their first or second treatment. Although the majority of patients respond really well, there is also a group of patients who will not respond or who will relapse within 2 years of treatment.

If doctors could identify these patients before treatment is started, they could offer them an alternative instead. Most patients already undergo FISH testing before beginning chemoimmunotherapy treatment. FISH testing can provide some information on likely response to treatment, but this information is quite limited and many patients still do not have access to FISH testing. Also, FISH testing only predicts lack of response in about a third of patients with refractory CLL. Hence, for most patients there is no way of predicting their response to chemoimmunotherapy before treatment starts.

A new test is being developed in a study by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Oxford. This work is led by Dr Anna Schuh, who many of you met at the Oxford members meetings in March 2012 and October 2013. This test will provide CLL patients and their doctors with some information about how they will respond to the usual treatment. This test is called a genomic test.

HOW HAVE CLLSA MEMBERS BEEN HELPING WITH THIS STUDY?

As part of this work, we have been conducting a survey to ask what CLL patients think about genomic testing. We hope that the survey results will help doctors and decision makers when they are deciding how useful genomic testing is for CLL patients.

Over the course of the summer, we contacted all CLLSA patient members to ask you to complete a survey. If you normally receive this newsletter by email, we contacted you by email, and if you normally receive this newsletter by mail, we sent you a letter.”

herc.ox.ac.uk/cll