ChemoID trial shows increased survival for glioma patients

A new collaborative Phase III trial has shown increased survival for patients with recurrent high-grade glioma (HGG), a type of fast-spreading brain tumor.

Soma Sengupta, MD, Ph.D., was interviewed discussing the results of the trial at the American Association for Cancer Research Meeting 2022 with Pier Paolo Claudio, MD, Ph.D., the inventor of the ChemoID assay, which is CLIA-certified for glioblastoma. Claudio is a professor at the University of Mississippi, and the two were featured by the Video Journal of Oncology (VJOncology).

The trial examined the effectiveness of a platform called ChemoID, a cancer stem cell test. ChemoID is an actionable tool doctors can use to help determine which treatment is most effective for an individual patient's particular type of tumor.

ChemoID highlights which cancer stem cells are responsible for the tumor coming back or growing, so doctors can then choose a therapy that targets those particular stem cells. The platform was compared against the typical standard where physicians choose what they think will be the best therapy.

"The study was amazing in that most recurrent high grade glioma trials don't show an improvement in survival, but this one showed a three and a half month improvement in survival," said Sengupta, University of Cincinnati associate professor in neurology, director of neuro-oncology clinical trials, associate director of the Brain Tumor Center and a UC Health neuro-oncologist, funded by the Harold C. Schott Endowed Chair in Molecular Therapeutics (Neurosurgery) and the Pam and Tom Mischell Funds.

Once the research is accepted and published, the ChemoID platform can be implemented in clinical pathology laboratories.