Home / Personalized Treatment of Lymphoid Cancer: British Columbia as Model Province
Personalized Treatment of Lymphoid Cancer: British Columbia as Model Province
Generating solutions
Status
Competition
Genome Centre(s)
GE3LS
Project Leader(s)
- Joseph Connors,
- BC Cancer Agency
- Marco Marra,
- BC Cancer Agency
Fiscal Year Project Launched
Project Description
Thanks to new research, scientists can now decode the genetic instructions in both normal and malignant cells. Armed with this information, doctors will soon be able to select the best cancer treatment for each individual. Lymphoid cancers are special because even when they have spread widely in the body they can still be cured. Recent research has shown that genomic sequencing can recognize special lymphoid cancers that are often not cured today but which could be treated more effectively using personally designed treatments. Drs. Joseph Connors, Marco Marra and Randy Gascoyne’s research team will apply genetic sequencing to lymphoid cancers—the fourth most common type of cancer. This research could increase the cure rate of several lymphoid cancers by 20 per cent—this means more than forty lives saved annually in BC and upwards of $2.5 million savings to the healthcare system in that province alone, and immeasurable dollars recovered from the rippleeffect of disease impacts such as lost work days and family suffering. This research will use BC as a pilot project to show how to use genomic analysis to costeffectively cure more cancer patients in a way that can readily be duplicated elsewhere around the world.