Discovery of Tumor, Treatment Response, and Systems-based EVP Signatures

Division Of Basic Sciences - Nci

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

As a practicing radiation oncologist, seeking to integrate my laboratory and clinical efforts into a cohesive translational research program, I have focused my clinical practice on the care of patients with metastatic cancers, for whom radiation may be beneficial. In the past year, I created the Treatment of Extra-cranial Advanced Malignancies (TEAM) group in the NCI Radiation Oncology Branch, and we are developing protocols designed to improve the assessment and treatment of patients with advanced malignancies. A major focus of my work with the TEAM group is liquid biopsies, and a major research aim currently is to determine what liquid biopsy or biofluid EVP profiles correlate with responses to treatment. The translational research efforts of this project are following a two-pronged approach: 1) collaborating with medical and surgical oncology colleagues at NIH to investigate EVPs as biomarkers for tumor status as part of those collaborators' existing protocols, and 2) developing new clinical protocols to capture information and samples from this patient population in a more cohesive and informative manner. Both of these approaches are supported by and provide support to the CCR's clinical translational mission and the basic scientific work ongoing in the Translational Nanobiology Section for the study of EVP repertoires.