North made cancer tool: Sudbury research institute plays major role in global clinical trials for cancer treatment tool.

• Author: McKinley, Karen
• Position: SUDBURY

Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI) is at the centre of a global clinical trial that could help refine breast cancer treatment and help doctors more accurately treat the disease, cutting down on time, money spent and ultimately save lives.

Earlier in June, HSNRI scientist and Laurentian University professor Dr. Amadeo Parissenti announced the institute would be part of a Breast Cancer Response Evaluation for Individualized Therapy (BREVITY) clinical trial to validate the use of the RNA Disruption Assay[TM] (RDA[TM]) tool for treatment and management of breast cancer in North America and Europe. The trial has been designed with help from opinion leaders in breast oncology and funded by Rna Diagnositcs, Inc., for which Dr. Parissenti serves as chief scientific officer.

"A tool like this is needed because we want to make sure the patient is getting the most effective treatment without putting them through too many harsh procedures like chemotherapy if they don't work," he said in an interview. "This will help medical professionals determine much faster if the treatment is working. If it isn't they can stop and consider other options. If it is, it can help determine how fast it's working, predict if or when the tumor will die completely with greater accuracy and plan treatment accordingly."

Parissenti described the tool as a way for medical professionals to better track the effects of medical treatments like radiation and chemotherapy on a tumor by taking a biopsy sample from one week up to three weeks after a single cycle of chemotherapy is administered to a patient.

Currently, patients can be given six to eight cycles of chemotherapy to up to half a year, depending on the tolerance of a patient before tumors are tested to determine if chemotherapy is working.

The tool works by measuring how fast RNA in a tumor degrades from chemotherapy. RNA, he explained, is derived from DNA and determines if a cell can live. Chemotherapy will degrade RNA of cancer tumors that respond to treatment, he said.

"What surprised us is we noticed that after chemotherapy there was no change in the tumor's RNA, meaning it was viable and chemotherapy wasn't having an effect on it," he said. "But those that do have a really great survival benefit from chemotherapy. It's really important to sort out who is responding to chemotherapy and who isn't, so we can take those who aren't responding and consider other options. That could be surgery, radiation or...