A new algorithm that identifies tumours sensitive to particular immunotherapies could improve the personalisation of cancer therapies.
The MMRDetect clinical algorithm makes it possible to identify tumours that have ‘mismatch repair deficiencies’ and then target treatment to exploit those weaknesses.
It was trained on data from thousands of NHS cancer patient samples sequenced through national whole genome sequencing endeavour, the 100,000 Genomes Project.
The study, led by researchers from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Medical Genetics and MRC Cancer Unit and published today in the journal
Nature Cancer, identified nine DNA repair genes that are critical guardians of the human genome.
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A new way to identify tumours that could be sensitive to particular immunotherapies has been developed using data from thousands of NHS cancer patient samples sequenced through the 100,000 Genomes Project. The MMRDetect clinical algorithm makes it possible to identify tumours that have mismatch repair deficiencies and then improve the personalisation of cancer therapies to exploit those weaknesses.
The study, led by researchers from the University of Cambridge s Department of Medical Genetics and MRC Cancer Unit, identified nine DNA repair genes that are critical guardians of the human genome from damage caused by oxygen and water, as well as errors during cell division.