Best Drug for Ovarian Cancer Picked Using Genetics

There are three common drugs used for advanced stages of ovarian cancer, paclitaxel, cyclophosphamide, and topotecan. Picking the right drug will result in the patient responding to it but if you pick the wrong drug it can result in treatment failure. The University of Colorado and the University of Virginia published in the journal PloS ONE a study that a model of ovarian cancer to match the right tumor with the right drug. Those who were matched correctly with the right drug lived an average of 21 months longer. The study consisted of four groups of 783 patients each, and the model was called COXEN (co-expression gene analysis), which sorted through genetic data of tumor samples to find differences between tumors that responded and those that didn't. It then went on to pinpoint genetic signatures of tumors that responded to each drug.New research studying the genes responsible for familial ovarian cancer will help lead to new drugs to treat ovarian cancer, as well as prevent. Personally, I think this research and other studies could be very helpful. I lost a cousin to ovarian cancer and I think not only will early detection help but drugs to better assist and treat the cancer once it's here is a wonderful discovery.