The oncology channel ecancer recently launched a new series of videos focused on Genomics in Oncology. Leading experts are invited as speakers to record talks with slides on Zoom to discuss latest research, address current challenges, and signpost next directions in genomic testing and the development of integrative approaches for the clinical implementation of multi-omics platforms.
This collection of virtual, pre-recorded talks now features Joaquin Mateo, Principal Investigator of our Prostate Cancer Translational Research Group, who was invited to deliver two different talks:
Complex Technologies for advanced diagnosis and precision medicine in oncology
Joaquin Mateo’s first talk centers on the conversations that took place during an Educational Session that he recently co-chaired alongside Christoph Benedikt Westphalen (Munich, Germany) at the Annual Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), 9-13 September in Paris.
Joaquin provides an excellent summary of this ESMO 2022 Session, and tackles three critical bottlenecks in access to precision medicine – access to testing, access to expertise for the clinical interpretation of data with harmonized criteria to ensure the best possible treatment and care for cancer patients, and equitable access to anti-cancer medicines and biomolecular technologies in oncology.
Regarding the implementation decision support tools Joaquin discusses his own presentation at the same ESMO session on Applying the ESMO Scale for Clinical Actionability of molecular Targets (ESCAT), and briefly explains how this framework ranks genomic alterations as targets for cancer precision medicine. He also talks about the incorporation of ESCAT in ESMO guidelines in the recommendations for biomarker testing and drug matching.
In conclusion, Joaquin emphasizes the need to tackle the existing challenges in delivering on the promise of precision medicine in oncology together by adopting a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and patient-centered approach.
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Molecular profiling in prostate cancer: key challenges for clinical implementation
Joaquin Mateo’s second expert talk focuses on molecular profiling in prostate cancer and the key challenges in implementing genomic testing in the clinic. Specifically, he discusses unmet needs and how improved prognostics and predictive data will optimize patient management and treatment selection.
He also reviews the current suite of molecular tests that are under development or already in clinical use, including genomic DNA testing, transcriptome RNA profiling, protein expression (IHC), methylation assays and proteomics assays. In his discussion of the current guidelines on genomic testing for prostate cancer, Joaquin also addresses when to recommend genomic testing, single genes versus multigene panels, the optimal source of tumor genetic material for testing including ctDNA and liquid biopsy, as well as the importance of considering false positives and negatives in data interpretation.
Joaquin concludes by pointing to new directions including better quantitative metrics from liquid biopsy to guide the initiation or termination of treatment, the identification of new actionable, emerging alterations, and the need for increased computational resources in hospitals.
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