DNA mutations are a hallmark of cancer. As the genetic mistakes add up, mutations can alter normal cellular pathways. Some of these changes may actually make the cancer cells susceptible to certain targeted drugs, but not all changes can be directly traced to a change in genetic code. Now, a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center team, led by Dr. Christopher Kemp and the late Dr. Eduardo "Eddie" Méndez, shows that they can tease out tumor vulnerabilities even when they aren’t clearly linked to DNA mutations.

In a new paper in Clinical Cancer Research, the researchers analyzed in incredible detail the tumor cells from a man with head and neck cancer who agreed to donate his tumor tissue for research. The study shows that their approach, termed functional genomics, has the potential to deliver on the promise of precision oncology by highlighting potential drug targets in the patient’s tumor and helping distinguish the DNA changes that affect cancer survival from those that don’t. They also demonstrated the potential application for use in guiding a patient’s ongoing treatment and provided insight into vulnerabilities that might be found in other patients’ tumors.

The work is supported by the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Target Discovery and Development, or CTD², initiative. CTD², part of the Precision Medicine Initiative announced by former president Barack Obama, aims to uncover new therapeutic targets for cancer. The potential targets from this study will be publicly posted in the CTD² database of new cancer targets, available to other researchers to further explore.