Side-Out Foundation teams with leading medical professionals to battle bre...( Fairfax VA. (Oct. 22 2009) -- The Si...),Health

Fairfax, VA. (Oct. 22, 2009) -- The Side-Out Foundation and its Dig Pink Volleyball Breast Cancer Awareness campaign will launch a first of its kind clinical trial this month to examine the effects of individualized treatment on patients with metastatic breast cancer. Individualized treatment, known as targeted therapy, provides doctors a better way to tailor cancer treatment and offers the hope of more precisely targeting the cancerous cells, which would reduce side effects and improve quality of life.

The trial protocol will bring together the diverse skills and unique experience of community oncologists, nurses and researchers in the field molecular medicine. Clinical trials will occur at TGen Clinical Research Services (TCRS) at Scottsdale Healthcare and Fairfax Northern Virginia Hematology Oncology. TGen Drug Development Services (TD2) will manage the trial for the Side-Out Foundation. The two major contributing laboratories are CARIS Diagnostics, and George Mason University's Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine.

This pilot study follows on the heels of the Bisgrove Trial, which indicated cancer patients can survive longer under treatments based on their individual genetic profiles. Results were reported in April 2009 by TCRS at Scottsdale Healthcare in connection with Caris Dx.

While the Bisgrove Trial was a broader-based solid tumor cancer study, the results of this study indicated the potential clinical benefit of a molecular-based personalized therapy selection strategy for patients with recurrent and/or metastatic disease. Intended to provide real time treatment recommendations to physicians, this metastatic breast cancer trial will be conducted over the next 24 months.

Researchers will utilize these advanced molecular profiling technologies, focusing on tailoring therapy for each patient based on the individual genomic and proteomic molecular portrait within the metastatic lesion itself. The pat
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