Sanford trial studies breast cancer tumor genetics

BY LISA GIBSON

Anew clinical trial at Sanford Health might uncover ways to improve breast cancer treatment through genetic analysis of tumors at different stages.

The study, Evaluating Targets in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer by Sequencing Tumor DNA at Diagnosis and After Progression (ELSA), was launched in October and is seeking participants who have been newly diagnosed with breast cancer in all four of Sanford’s regions: Bismarck and Fargo in North Dakota, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Bemidji, Minn.

Sanford has about 1,000 new breast cancer diagnoses each year and researchers hope to enroll 300 to 600 participants the first year of the trial, says Dr. Anu Gaba, an oncologist and breast cancer researcher based in Fargo, and principal investigator for the trial.

Study participants will have an initial biopsy at the time of their diagnosis. Because treatment can be so effective, the majority of breast cancer patients do not see recurrences, Gaba says.

But some do, and those study participants will have another biopsy at their second diagnosis, and another after that recurrence has been treated. The three samples will compare how a tumor’s genetic composition varies at differing stages of the disease, according to Sanford Health.

The hope is that studying unique genetic makeup can predict recurrence or determine the best course of treatment, Gaba says. She adds the study links genotype and phenotype — what’s in the tumor and how it manifests clinically.

“Tailoring treatments to address each person’s unique genetic makeup is the future of cancer care,” says Sanford Research President Dr. David Pearce, in a press release. “Unfortunately, around 25 percent of breast cancer survivors experience recurrence or have their disease metastasize, but gathering data during the natural progression of the disease might help us better control it.”

Many recurrences don’t appear until years later, Gaba says, so the research will be long-term.

“This is a unique trial,” she says. “There are not many examples of trials like this having been done before.

“We’re always trying to be better for our patients,” Gaba says. “I really think it’s our role and our duty to really make breast cancer something that is history, and any woman diagnosed with breast cancer should lead a normal lifespan.”

Lisa Gibson Editor, Prairie Business 701-787-6753, lgibson@prairiebizmag.com