Immunotherapy treatment for certain bladder cancers may be prescribed specifically for individual patients with help from a new FDA approved complementary test by Cancer Genetics (GCI).
VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142), used with the diagnostic immunohistochemistry (IHC) test for Tecentriq (atezolizumab), a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blocking antibody, can help patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC). Ninety percent of all bladder cancers are mUC.
“This is a breakthrough in the revolutionary era of precision therapy. The ability to determine the patient’s level of PD-L1 expression is critical to providing novel therapy options in a targeted and cost-effective manner,” said CGI president and CEO, Panna Sharma, in a press release. “We are excited to be one of very few labs in U.S. performing this test as we continue to add to our capabilities in immuno-oncology.”
Measuring the amount of PD-L1 protein on the surface of both tumor cells and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is a major necessity, because PDL-1 is one of the immune checkpoints that are being exponentially targeted in the development of new immunotherapies against several cancer types.
In May 2014, atezolizumab received an FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the treatment of patients with mUC whose disease expresses the protein PD-L1. The therapeutic potential of atezolizumab is also being studied in several other cancers.
According to Peter Keeling, CEO of Diaceutics, a global advisor to pharmaceutical and biotech companies on commercialization strategy: “Our own data and analysis on PD-L1 markers suggests that PD-L1 is well on its way to being one of the most hyper connected biomarkers in key cancer indications like NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer).”
