Browsing by Subject "Precision Medicine"
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Item Open Access Advancing Clinical Trials for Inherited Retinal Diseases: Recommendations from the Second Monaciano Symposium.(Translational vision science & technology, 2020-06-03) Thompson, Debra A; Iannaccone, Alessandro; Ali, Robin R; Arshavsky, Vadim Y; Audo, Isabelle; Bainbridge, James WB; Besirli, Cagri G; Birch, David G; Branham, Kari E; Cideciyan, Artur V; Daiger, Steven P; Dalkara, Deniz; Duncan, Jacque L; Fahim, Abigail T; Flannery, John G; Gattegna, Roberto; Heckenlively, John R; Heon, Elise; Jayasundera, K Thiran; Khan, Naheed W; Klassen, Henry; Leroy, Bart P; Molday, Robert S; Musch, David C; Pennesi, Mark E; Petersen-Jones, Simon M; Pierce, Eric A; Rao, Rajesh C; Reh, Thomas A; Sahel, Jose A; Sharon, Dror; Sieving, Paul A; Strettoi, Enrica; Yang, Paul; Zacks, David N; Monaciano ConsortiumMajor advances in the study of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) have placed efforts to develop treatments for these blinding conditions at the forefront of the emerging field of precision medicine. As a result, the growth of clinical trials for IRDs has increased rapidly over the past decade and is expected to further accelerate as more therapeutic possibilities emerge and qualified participants are identified. Although guided by established principles, these specialized trials, requiring analysis of novel outcome measures and endpoints in small patient populations, present multiple challenges relative to study design and ethical considerations. This position paper reviews recent accomplishments and existing challenges in clinical trials for IRDs and presents a set of recommendations aimed at rapidly advancing future progress. The goal is to stimulate discussions among researchers, funding agencies, industry, and policy makers that will further the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical trials needed to accelerate the approval of effective treatments for IRDs, while promoting advocacy and ensuring patient safety.Item Open Access Complexity of Delivering Precision Medicine: Opportunities and Challenges.(American Society of Clinical Oncology educational book. American Society of Clinical Oncology. Annual Meeting, 2018-05) Davis, Andrew A; McKee, Amy E; Kibbe, Warren A; Villaflor, Victoria MPrecision medicine has emerged as a tool to match patients with the appropriate treatment based on the precise molecular features of an individual patient's tumor. Although examples of targeted therapies exist resulting in dramatic improvements in patient outcomes, comprehensive genomic profiling of tumors has also demonstrated the incredible complexity of molecular alterations in tissue and blood. These sequencing methods provide opportunities to study the landscape of tumors at baseline and serially in response to treatment. These tools also serve as important biomarkers to detect resistance to treatment and determine higher likelihood of responding to particular treatments, such as immune checkpoint blockade. Federally funded and publicly available data repositories have emerged as mechanisms for data sharing. In addition, novel clinical trials are emerging to develop new ways of incorporating molecular matched therapy into clinical trials. Various challenges to delivery of precision oncology include understanding the complexity of advanced tumors based on evolving "omics" and treatment resistance. For physicians, determining when and how to incorporate genetic and molecular tools into clinic in a cost-effective manner is critical. Finally, we discuss the importance of well-designed prospective clinical trials, biomarkers such as liquid biopsies, the use of multidisciplinary tumor boards, and data sharing as evidence-based medicine tools to optimally study and deliver precision oncology to our patients.Item Open Access Creating and parameterizing patient-specific deep brain stimulation pathway-activation models using the hyperdirect pathway as an example.(PloS one, 2017-01) Gunalan, Kabilar; Chaturvedi, Ashutosh; Howell, Bryan; Duchin, Yuval; Lempka, Scott F; Patriat, Remi; Sapiro, Guillermo; Harel, Noam; McIntyre, Cameron CBackground
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established clinical therapy and computational models have played an important role in advancing the technology. Patient-specific DBS models are now common tools in both academic and industrial research, as well as clinical software systems. However, the exact methodology for creating patient-specific DBS models can vary substantially and important technical details are often missing from published reports.Objective
Provide a detailed description of the assembly workflow and parameterization of a patient-specific DBS pathway-activation model (PAM) and predict the response of the hyperdirect pathway to clinical stimulation.Methods
Integration of multiple software tools (e.g. COMSOL, MATLAB, FSL, NEURON, Python) enables the creation and visualization of a DBS PAM. An example DBS PAM was developed using 7T magnetic resonance imaging data from a single unilaterally implanted patient with Parkinson's disease (PD). This detailed description implements our best computational practices and most elaborate parameterization steps, as defined from over a decade of technical evolution.Results
Pathway recruitment curves and strength-duration relationships highlight the non-linear response of axons to changes in the DBS parameter settings.Conclusion
Parameterization of patient-specific DBS models can be highly detailed and constrained, thereby providing confidence in the simulation predictions, but at the expense of time demanding technical implementation steps. DBS PAMs represent new tools for investigating possible correlations between brain pathway activation patterns and clinical symptom modulation.Item Open Access Development of predictive models for all individual questions of SRS-22R after adult spinal deformity surgery: a step toward individualized medicine.(European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2019-09) Ames, Christopher P; Smith, Justin S; Pellisé, Ferran; Kelly, Michael; Gum, Jeffrey L; Alanay, Ahmet; Acaroğlu, Emre; Pérez-Grueso, Francisco Javier Sánchez; Kleinstück, Frank S; Obeid, Ibrahim; Vila-Casademunt, Alba; Shaffrey, Christopher I; Burton, Douglas C; Lafage, Virginie; Schwab, Frank J; Shaffrey, Christopher I; Bess, Shay; Serra-Burriel, Miquel; European Spine Study Group; International Spine Study GroupPurpose
Health-related quality of life (HRQL) instruments are essential in value-driven health care, but patients often have more specific, personal priorities when seeking surgical care. The Scoliosis Research Society-22R (SRS-22R), an HRQL instrument for spinal deformity, provides summary scores spanning several health domains, but these may be difficult for patients to utilize in planning their specific care goals. Our objective was to create preoperative predictive models for responses to individual SRS-22R questions at 1 and 2 years after adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery to facilitate precision surgical care.Methods
Two prospective observational cohorts were queried for ASD patients with SRS-22R data at baseline and 1 and 2 years after surgery. In total, 150 covariates were used in training machine learning models, including demographics, surgical data and perioperative complications. Validation was accomplished via an 80%/20% data split for training and testing, respectively. Goodness of fit was measured using area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves.Results
In total, 561 patients met inclusion criteria. The AUROC ranged from 56.5 to 86.9%, reflecting successful fits for most questions. SRS-22R questions regarding pain, disability and social and labor function were the most accurately predicted. Models were less sensitive to questions regarding general satisfaction, depression/anxiety and appearance.Conclusions
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explicitly model the prediction of individual answers to the SRS-22R questionnaire at 1 and 2 years after deformity surgery. The ability to predict individual question responses may prove useful in preoperative counseling in the age of individualized medicine. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.Item Open Access Individualized Homeopathy: A Consideration of Its Relationship to Psychotherapy.(Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 2016-08) Davidson, Jonathan; Jonas, WayneObjectives
The benefit and potential mechanisms of action of homeopathy have long been debated. Almost entirely neglected has been the study of individualized homeopathy (IH) as a form of psychotherapy, which incorporates factors that are common to most therapies while using processes that are specific to IH.Methods
Recent research into the therapeutic components of IH is reviewed; similarities and differences between IH and other forms of psychotherapy are also described.Results
IH includes elements found in humanistic therapy and narrative medicine and additionally incorporates idiographic material in treatment selection. It is structured in a manner that takes maximum advantage of the components of the placebo effect, which could further expand its effectiveness beyond those conditions thought usually amenable to psychotherapy.Conclusions
It is possible that IH entails specific psychotherapeutic processes in addition to possible therapeutic action of the homeopathic remedy, but the relative contributions of each remain to be determined. Suggestions are given for future research.Item Open Access Individualizing duration of antibiotic therapy in community-acquired pneumonia.(Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics, 2017-08) Aliberti, Stefano; Ramirez, Julio; Giuliani, Fabio; Wiemken, Timothy; Sotgiu, Giovanni; Tedeschi, Sara; Carugati, Manuela; Valenti, Vincenzo; Valenti, Vincenzo; Marchioni, Marco; Camera, Marco; Piro, Roberto; Del Forno, Manuela; Milani, Giuseppe; Faverio, Paola; Richeldi, Luca; Deotto, Martina; Villani, Massimiliano; Voza, Antonio; Tobaldini, Eleonora; Bernardi, Mauro; Bellone, Andrea; Bassetti, Matteo; Blasi, FrancescoInternational experts suggest tailoring antibiotic duration in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) according to patients' characteristics. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of an individualized approach to antibiotic duration based on time in which CAP patients reach clinical stability during hospitalization. In a multicenter, non-inferiority, randomized, controlled trial hospitalized adult patients with CAP reaching clinical stability within 5 days after hospitalization were randomized to a standard vs. individualized antibiotic duration. In the Individualized group, antibiotics were discontinued 48 h after the patient reached clinical stability, with at least five days of total antibiotic treatment. Early failure within 30 days was the primary composite outcome. 135 patients were randomized to the Standard group and 125 to the Individualized group. The trial was interrupted by the safety committee because of an apparent inferiority of the Individualized group over the Standard treatment: 14 (11.2%) patients in the Individualized group experienced early failure vs. 10 (7.4%) patients in the Standard group, p = 0.200, at the intention-to-treat analysis. 30-day mortality rate was four-time higher in the Individualized group than the Standard group. Shortening antibiotic duration according to patients' characteristics still remains an open question.Item Open Access Integrating pharmacogenomics into clinical trials of hearing disorders.(The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2022-11) Brutnell, Thomas P; Wang, Xinwen; Bao, JianxinIn 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued guidance to increase the efficiency of drug development and support precision medicine, including tailoring treatments to those patients who will benefit based on genetic variation even in the absence of a documented mechanism of action. Although multiple advancements have been made in the field of pharmacogenetics (PGx) for other disease conditions, there are no approved PGx guidelines in the treatment of hearing disorders. In studies of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), some progress has been made in the last several years associating genomic loci with susceptibility to noise damage. However, the power of such studies is limited as the underlying physiological responses may vary considerably among the patient populations. Here, we have summarized previous animal studies to argue that NIHL subtyping is a promising strategy to increase the granularity of audiological assessments. By coupling this enhanced phenotyping capability with genetic association studies, we suggest that drug efficacy will be better predicted, increasing the likelihood of success in clinical trials when populations are stratified based on genetic variation or designed with multidrug combinations to reach a broader segment of individuals suffering or at risk from NIHL.Item Open Access Interactive or static reports to guide clinical interpretation of cancer genomics.(Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 2018-05) Gray, Stacy W; Gagan, Jeffrey; Cerami, Ethan; Cronin, Angel M; Uno, Hajime; Oliver, Nelly; Lowenstein, Carol; Lederman, Ruth; Revette, Anna; Suarez, Aaron; Lee, Charlotte; Bryan, Jordan; Sholl, Lynette; Van Allen, Eliezer MObjective
Misinterpretation of complex genomic data presents a major challenge in the implementation of precision oncology. We sought to determine whether interactive genomic reports with embedded clinician education and optimized data visualization improved genomic data interpretation.Materials and methods
We conducted a randomized, vignette-based survey study to determine whether exposure to interactive reports for a somatic gene panel, as compared to static reports, improves physicians' genomic comprehension and report-related satisfaction (overall scores calculated across 3 vignettes, range 0-18 and 1-4, respectively, higher score corresponding with improved endpoints).Results
One hundred and five physicians at a tertiary cancer center participated (29% participation rate): 67% medical, 20% pediatric, 7% radiation, and 7% surgical oncology; 37% female. Prior to viewing the case-based vignettes, 34% of the physicians reported difficulty making treatment recommendations based on the standard static report. After vignette/report exposure, physicians' overall comprehension scores did not differ by report type (mean score: interactive 11.6 vs static 10.5, difference = 1.1, 95% CI, -0.3, 2.5, P = .13). However, physicians exposed to the interactive report were more likely to correctly assess sequencing quality (P < .001) and understand when reports needed to be interpreted with caution (eg, low tumor purity; P = .02). Overall satisfaction scores were higher in the interactive group (mean score 2.5 vs 2.1, difference = 0.4, 95% CI, 0.2-0.7, P = .001).Discussion and conclusion
Interactive genomic reports may improve physicians' ability to accurately assess genomic data and increase report-related satisfaction. Additional research in users' genomic needs and efforts to integrate interactive reports into electronic health records may facilitate the implementation of precision oncology.Item Open Access Making Clinical Practice Guidelines Pragmatic: How Big Data and Real World Evidence Can Close the Gap.(Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 2018-12) Chew, Si Yuan; Koh, Mariko S; Loo, Chian Min; Thumboo, Julian; Shantakumar, Sumitra; Matchar, David BClinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have become ubiquitous in every field of medicine today but there has been limited success in implementation and improvement in health outcomes. Guidelines are largely based on the results of traditional randomised controlled trials (RCTs) which adopt a highly selective process to maximise the intervention's chance of demonstrating efficacy thus having high internal validity but lacking external validity. Therefore, guidelines based on these RCTs often suffer from a gap between trial efficacy and real world effectiveness and is one of the common reasons contributing to poor guideline adherence by physicians. "Real World Evidence" (RWE) can complement RCTs in CPG development. RWE-in the form of data from integrated electronic health records-represents the vast and varied collective experience of frontline doctors and patients. RWE has the potential to fill the gap in current guidelines by balancing information about whether a test or treatment works (efficacy) with data on how it works in real world practice (effectiveness). RWE can also advance the agenda of precision medicine in everyday practice by engaging frontline stakeholders in pragmatic biomarker studies. This will enable guideline developers to more precisely determine not only whether a clinical test or treatment is recommended, but for whom and when. Singapore is well positioned to ride the big data and RWE wave as we have the advantages of high digital interconnectivity, an integrated National Electronic Health Record (NEHR), and governmental support in the form of the Smart Nation initiative.Item Open Access Mapping the value for money of precision medicine: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.(Frontiers in public health, 2023-01) Chen, Wenjia; Wong, Nigel Chong Boon; Wang, Yi; Zemlyanska, Yaroslava; Butani, Dimple; Virabhak, Suchin; Matchar, David Bruce; Prapinvanich, Thittaya; Teerawattananon, YotObjective
This study aimed to quantify heterogeneity in the value for money of precision medicine (PM) by application types across contexts and conditions and to quantify sources of heterogeneity to areas of particular promises or concerns as the field of PM moves forward.Methods
A systemic search was performed in Embase, Medline, EconLit, and CRD databases for studies published between 2011 and 2021 on cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of PM interventions. Based on a willingness-to-pay threshold of one-time GDP per capita of each study country, the net monetary benefit (NMB) of PM was pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. Sources of heterogeneity and study biases were examined using random-effects meta-regressions, jackknife sensitivity analysis, and the biases in economic studies checklist.Results
Among the 275 unique CEAs of PM, publicly sponsored studies found neither genetic testing nor gene therapy cost-effective in general, which was contradictory to studies funded by commercial entities and early stage evaluations. Evidence of PM being cost-effective was concentrated in a genetic test for screening, diagnosis, or as companion diagnostics (pooled NMBs, $48,152, $8,869, $5,693, p < 0.001), in the form of multigene panel testing (pooled NMBs = $31,026, p < 0.001), which only applied to a few disease areas such as cancer and high-income countries. Incremental effectiveness was an essential value driver for varied genetic tests but not gene therapy.Conclusion
Precision medicine's value for money across application types and contexts was difficult to conclude from published studies, which might be subject to systematic bias. The conducting and reporting of CEA of PM should be locally based and standardized for meaningful comparisons.Item Open Access Perioperative fluid and hemodynamic management within an enhanced recovery pathway.(Journal of surgical oncology, 2017-10) Manning, Michael W; Dunkman, William Jonathan; Miller, Timothy EGoal-directed fluid therapy (GDFT) seeks to improve outcomes through individualized optimization of oxygen delivery using IV fluid and vasoactive infusions. Trials of GDFT show clinical benefits over traditional liberal fluid administration, but fail to demonstrate benefits when compared to a restrictive strategy within an optimized enhanced recovery protocol. The ideal monitors, hemodynamic goals, and fluid administration strategy are not well established but may be less important than rational application of thoughtful fluid management strategies.Item Open Access PhenX RISING: real world implementation and sharing of PhenX measures.(BMC Med Genomics, 2014-03-20) McCarty, Catherine A; Huggins, Wayne; Aiello, Allison E; Bilder, Robert M; Hariri, Ahmad; Jernigan, Terry L; Newman, Erik; Sanghera, Dharambir K; Strauman, Timothy J; Zeng, Yi; Ramos, Erin M; Junkins, Heather A; PhenX RISING networkBACKGROUND: The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the PhenX RISING network and the site experiences in the implementation of PhenX measures into ongoing population-based genomic studies. METHODS: Eighty PhenX measures were implemented across the seven PhenX RISING groups, thirty-three of which were used at more than two sites, allowing for cross-site collaboration. Each site used between four and 37 individual measures and five of the sites are validating the PhenX measures through comparison with other study measures. Self-administered and computer-based administration modes are being evaluated at several sites which required changes to the original PhenX Toolkit protocols. A network-wide data use agreement was developed to facilitate data sharing and collaboration. RESULTS: PhenX Toolkit measures have been collected for more than 17,000 participants across the PhenX RISING network. The process of implementation provided information that was used to improve the PhenX Toolkit. The Toolkit was revised to allow researchers to select self- or interviewer administration when creating the data collection worksheets and ranges of specimens necessary to run biological assays has been added to the Toolkit. CONCLUSIONS: The PhenX RISING network has demonstrated that the PhenX Toolkit measures can be implemented successfully in ongoing genomic studies. The next step will be to conduct gene/environment studies.Item Open Access Randomised placebo-controlled trials of individualised homeopathic treatment: systematic review and meta-analysis.(Systematic reviews, 2014-12) Mathie, Robert T; Lloyd, Suzanne M; Legg, Lynn A; Clausen, Jürgen; Moss, Sian; Davidson, Jonathan RT; Ford, IanBackground
A rigorous and focused systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of individualised homeopathic treatment has not previously been undertaken. We tested the hypothesis that the outcome of an individualised homeopathic treatment approach using homeopathic medicines is distinguishable from that of placebos.Methods
The review's methods, including literature search strategy, data extraction, assessment of risk of bias and statistical analysis, were strictly protocol-based. Judgment in seven assessment domains enabled a trial's risk of bias to be designated as low, unclear or high. A trial was judged to comprise 'reliable evidence' if its risk of bias was low or was unclear in one specified domain. 'Effect size' was reported as odds ratio (OR), with arithmetic transformation for continuous data carried out as required; OR > 1 signified an effect favouring homeopathy.Results
Thirty-two eligible RCTs studied 24 different medical conditions in total. Twelve trials were classed 'uncertain risk of bias', three of which displayed relatively minor uncertainty and were designated reliable evidence; 20 trials were classed 'high risk of bias'. Twenty-two trials had extractable data and were subjected to meta-analysis; OR = 1.53 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22 to 1.91). For the three trials with reliable evidence, sensitivity analysis revealed OR = 1.98 (95% CI 1.16 to 3.38).Conclusions
Medicines prescribed in individualised homeopathy may have small, specific treatment effects. Findings are consistent with sub-group data available in a previous 'global' systematic review. The low or unclear overall quality of the evidence prompts caution in interpreting the findings. New high-quality RCT research is necessary to enable more decisive interpretation.Item Open Access Rapid tissue prototyping with micro-organospheres.(Stem cell reports, 2022-09) Wang, Zhaohui; Boretto, Matteo; Millen, Rosemary; Natesh, Naveen; Reckzeh, Elena S; Hsu, Carolyn; Negrete, Marcos; Yao, Haipei; Quayle, William; Heaton, Brook E; Harding, Alfred T; Bose, Shree; Driehuis, Else; Beumer, Joep; Rivera, Grecia O; van Ineveld, Ravian L; Gex, Donald; DeVilla, Jessica; Wang, Daisong; Puschhof, Jens; Geurts, Maarten H; Yeung, Athena; Hamele, Cait; Smith, Amber; Bankaitis, Eric; Xiang, Kun; Ding, Shengli; Nelson, Daniel; Delubac, Daniel; Rios, Anne; Abi-Hachem, Ralph; Jang, David; Goldstein, Bradley J; Glass, Carolyn; Heaton, Nicholas S; Hsu, David; Clevers, Hans; Shen, XilingIn vitro tissue models hold great promise for modeling diseases and drug responses. Here, we used emulsion microfluidics to form micro-organospheres (MOSs), which are droplet-encapsulated miniature three-dimensional (3D) tissue models that can be established rapidly from patient tissues or cells. MOSs retain key biological features and responses to chemo-, targeted, and radiation therapies compared with organoids. The small size and large surface-to-volume ratio of MOSs enable various applications including quantitative assessment of nutrient dependence, pathogen-host interaction for anti-viral drug screening, and a rapid potency assay for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy. An automated MOS imaging pipeline combined with machine learning overcomes plating variation, distinguishes tumorspheres from stroma, differentiates cytostatic versus cytotoxic drug effects, and captures resistant clones and heterogeneity in drug response. This pipeline is capable of robust assessments of drug response at individual-tumorsphere resolution and provides a rapid and high-throughput therapeutic profiling platform for precision medicine.Item Open Access The IGNITE network: a model for genomic medicine implementation and research.(BMC Med Genomics, 2016-01-05) Weitzel, Kristin Wiisanen; Alexander, Madeline; Bernhardt, Barbara A; Calman, Neil; Carey, David J; Cavallari, Larisa H; Field, Julie R; Hauser, Diane; Junkins, Heather A; Levin, Phillip A; Levy, Kenneth; Madden, Ebony B; Manolio, Teri A; Odgis, Jacqueline; Orlando, Lori A; Pyeritz, Reed; Wu, R Ryanne; Shuldiner, Alan R; Bottinger, Erwin P; Denny, Joshua C; Dexter, Paul R; Flockhart, David A; Horowitz, Carol R; Johnson, Julie A; Kimmel, Stephen E; Levy, Mia A; Pollin, Toni I; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S; IGNITE NetworkBACKGROUND: Patients, clinicians, researchers and payers are seeking to understand the value of using genomic information (as reflected by genotyping, sequencing, family history or other data) to inform clinical decision-making. However, challenges exist to widespread clinical implementation of genomic medicine, a prerequisite for developing evidence of its real-world utility. METHODS: To address these challenges, the National Institutes of Health-funded IGNITE (Implementing GeNomics In pracTicE; www.ignite-genomics.org ) Network, comprised of six projects and a coordinating center, was established in 2013 to support the development, investigation and dissemination of genomic medicine practice models that seamlessly integrate genomic data into the electronic health record and that deploy tools for point of care decision making. IGNITE site projects are aligned in their purpose of testing these models, but individual projects vary in scope and design, including exploring genetic markers for disease risk prediction and prevention, developing tools for using family history data, incorporating pharmacogenomic data into clinical care, refining disease diagnosis using sequence-based mutation discovery, and creating novel educational approaches. RESULTS: This paper describes the IGNITE Network and member projects, including network structure, collaborative initiatives, clinical decision support strategies, methods for return of genomic test results, and educational initiatives for patients and providers. Clinical and outcomes data from individual sites and network-wide projects are anticipated to begin being published over the next few years. CONCLUSIONS: The IGNITE Network is an innovative series of projects and pilot demonstrations aiming to enhance translation of validated actionable genomic information into clinical settings and develop and use measures of outcome in response to genome-based clinical interventions using a pragmatic framework to provide early data and proofs of concept on the utility of these interventions. Through these efforts and collaboration with other stakeholders, IGNITE is poised to have a significant impact on the acceleration of genomic information into medical practice.Item Open Access Toxin-based targeted therapy for malignant brain tumors.(Clinical & developmental immunology, 2012-01) Chandramohan, Vidyalakshmi; Sampson, John H; Pastan, Ira; Bigner, Darell DDespite advances in conventional treatment modalities for malignant brain tumors-surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy-the prognosis for patients with high-grade astrocytic tumor remains dismal. The highly heterogeneous and diffuse nature of astrocytic tumors calls for the development of novel therapies. Advances in genomic and proteomic research indicate that treatment of brain tumor patients can be increasingly personalized according to the characteristics of the targeted tumor and its environment. Consequently, during the last two decades, a novel class of investigative drug candidates for the treatment of central nervous system neoplasia has emerged: recombinant fusion protein conjugates armed with cytotoxic agents targeting tumor-specific antigens. The clinical applicability of the tumor-antigen-directed cytotoxic proteins as a safe and viable therapy for brain tumors is being investigated. Thus far, results from ongoing clinical trials are encouraging, as disease stabilization and patient survival prolongation have been observed in at least 109 cases. This paper summarizes the major findings pertaining to treatment with the different antiglioma cytotoxins at the preclinical and clinical stages.