Why do cancer therapies work better for some rather then others? Dr. Ing Swie Goping, as
sistant professor for the department of Biochemistry, discovered one difference that may answer the question of why, the possibility of personalizing the treatment for breast cancer.
Through her research Dr. Goping has identified a biomarker, BAD (Bcl-2-associated death promoter), that is a predictive indicator of how well a person will respond to taxane chemotherapeutic drug treatment for breast cancer. Taxanes (such as Taxol® and Taxotere®) are chemotherapeutic drugs that are extensively used for a range of cancers such as breast, ovarian, prostrate and lung cancer, amongst others.
Focusing her research on breast cancer treatment, Dr. Goping discovered that the more BAD protein a person has the better the taxane treatment will work, likewise the less BAD protein the less likely the treatment will work. This biomarker therefore could be used to screen patients being considered for taxane chemotherapy - knowing the BAD protein levels could mean avoiding an unnecessary and toxic treatment, given that 30-50% of breast cancer patients don’t respond to this type of chemotherapy.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 1 in 9 women are expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime and 1 in 28 will die of it. “Our discovery may contribute to the development of a diagnostic test to advance ‘personalized medicine’ – individualizing the treatment based on a person’s receptivity to certain drugs,” said Dr. Goping.
Bindi Ferguson, a TEC Transfer officer, teamed up with Dr. Goping to help move this biomarker discovery from the lab to the clinic. As the exclusive technology transfer agent for the university, TEC Edmonton assessed the patentability and market potential for this discovery and filed a patent application. Currently, Ferguson is actively marketing this technology in hopes of finding an industry partner to help take this to the next stage.
“Connecting with Bindi has been a fabulous experience,” Dr. Goping said. “Without the help of TEC Edmonton, we would not know how to move our discovery into use in the clinic.”
Working closely with Dr. John Mackey an oncology professor and clinician at the Cross Cancer Institute, Dr. Goping says that the collaboration is a perfect partnership between a lab discovery and translating it to clinical outcome. Currently Goping and Mackey are expanding the study by utilizing samples from a larger randomized controlled clinical trial to better validate the technology.
“We have been talking to some big pharmaceutical players and received good initial feedback,” Ferguson said. “Discussions are ongoing and we are very optimistic that a good partner will come on board.”