Personalized OncoGenomics (POG)

RECENT NEWS:

CBC documentary "Cracking Cancer" (available for viewing in Canada only). For more information, visit the BC Cancer Foundation site.  

Overview

The BC Cancer Agency’s Personalized OncoGenomics (POG) program is a clinical research initiative that is embedding genomic sequencing into real-time treatment planning for BC patients with incurable cancers.

Cancer is a complex biological process. We categorize cancers according to their site of origin (e.g. lung, breast, liver, colon) as each one is different, but even within these groupings there are subtypes with differences in response to treatment and overall behaviour. The POG program is a collaborative research study including many BCCA oncologists, pathologists and other clinicians along with the Genome Sciences Centre (GSC), which aims to decode the genome – the entire DNA and RNA inside the cell – of each patient’s cancer, to understand what is enabling it to grow. Using this genomic data in clinical decision-making should allow us to develop treatment strategies to block its growth, identify clinical trials that the patient may benefit from and potentially identify less toxic and more effective therapeutic options.

Who is eligible for POG? This is a highly experimental research program for cancer patients being treated at the BC Cancer Agency (BC residents only) with metastatic disease, either before any chemotherapy or after one line of chemotherapy; there are some disease/type specific criteria that may also apply to individual cases. Currently the study can enroll 6-8 patients per week and thus they are a highly selected group. For more information on POG and eligibility, BC patients should speak to their medical oncologist. Ethical Review Board and other approvals in place for the study do not allow non-BC residents to be included in the study.

Who do I contact for more information on POG? For more information on POG and eligibility, BC patients should speak to their medical oncologist.

How do patients get enrolled in POG?  BC patients should discuss their clinical treatment options, including clinical trials and POG, with their oncologist.

More information about the POG program is also available at ClinicalTrials.gov - Identifier: NCT02155621

If you would like to support POG, click here.

Recent POG publications:

• Chow-White, P. et al. Knowledge, attitudes, and values amongphysicians working with clinical genomics:a survey of medical oncologists. Hum Resour Health. 2017 Jun 27;15(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s12960-017-0218-z.
• Laskin, J. et al. Clinicians identify high need to increase their genomic literacy to applied cancer genomics. Ann Oncol 2016; 27 (suppl_6): 1379P. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdw387.16
• Weymann, D. et al. The cost and cost-trajectory of whole-genome analysis to guide treatment of patients with advanced cancer. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2017 Mar 12;5(3):251-260. doi: 10.1002/mgg3.281
• Thibodeau, M. L. et al. Genomic profiling of pelvic genital type leiomyosarcoma in a woman with a germline CHEK2:c.1100delC mutation and a concomitant diagnosis of metastatic invasive ductal breast carcinoma. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud 2017 May 16. pii: mcs.a001628. doi: 10.1101/mcs.a001628
• Sheffield, B. S. et al. Investigation of PD-L1 Biomarker Testing Methods for PD-1 Axis Inhibition in Non-squamous Non-small Cell Lung Cancer. J Histochem Cytochem 2016 Oct;64(10):587-600. doi: 10.1369/00221554 
• Sheffield, B. S. et al. Personalized oncogenomics in the management of gastrointestinal carcinomas-early experiences from a pilot study. Curr Oncol 23, e571-e575, (2016)  doi:10.3747/co.23.3165.
• Parker, J. D. et al. Molecular etiology of an indolent lymphoproliferative disorder determined by whole-genome sequencing. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud 2, a000679, (2016) doi:10.1101/mcs.a000679.
• Laskin, J. et al. Clinicians identify high need to increase their genomic literacy to applied cancer genomics. Annals of Oncology 27, 1379P-1379P, (2016) doi:10.1093/annonc/mdw387.16.
• Jones, M. R. et al. Response to angiotensin blockade with irbesartan in a patient with metastatic colorectal cancer. Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology 27, 801-806, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdw060 (2016).

Complete list of POG Publications

POG in the news:

• Cracking the cancer code: a personalized genomic approach.  In presenting an accessible, detailed, and balanced look at the work of the POG team, The Nature of Things is doing valuable public engagement work at the cutting edge of cancer research - Lancet Oncology, Volume 18, No. 6, p717, June 2017
• For April 2017, as part of Cancer Awareness Month, CIHR highlighted Canadian cancer researchers, with a feature about the POG Program: http://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/50284.html#s1.
• Can a computer select the best cancer treatment? B.C. researchers to study whether Watson can move from winning Jeopardy to doing doctors’ legwork – Vancouver Sun, July 2, 2015
• IBM Collaborates with 14 Cancer Institutes to Decipher Genomic Data – GenomeWeb, May 5, 2015
• With New Funds, BC Cancer Agency Aims to Sequence 300 Patients for Personalized Onco-Genomics Trial – GenomeWeb, March 13, 2015

• Blood pressure drug shrinks cancer in ‘miracle’ clinical trial – CTV News Vancouver, March 9, 2015

• MYSTERY REVEALED: identity of the high profile, Vancouver biomedical mogul, 1st in world to get gene sequencing for cancer Rx - Vancouver Sun, November 1, 2014

For all project related inquiries please contact: POGinfo@bcgsc.ca