PERSONALISED cancer treatment is a step closer to becoming a reality for more patients.
University of South Australia researcher Stephanie Reuter Lange has received a $300,000 Cancer Council Beat Cancer Project grant to explore how computer-based modelling can optimise cancer treatment and remove the need for expensive trials.
While cancer treatments are most successful when personalised to an individual, Dr Reuter Lange said most cancer medicines are still administered with a "one size fits all" approach.
"Despite substantial improvements in the treatment of cancer, three out of 10 patients will still not survive longer than five years, due to either cancer progression or death from severe treatment-related side effects," she said.
"There is no field of medicine in which individualisation of medicines is more important than in the area of oncology.
"There is large variability in how patients respond to many cancer medicines, which can result in either undertreatment that leads to cancer progression, or overtreatment that can have significant toxic effects."
Dr Reuter Lange said dose individualisation meant doctors could tailor the amount of a drug administered to maximise tumour response and minimise effects.
She will focus on computer-based modelling methods to identify strategies for best treatment practice.
"While the merits of individualised drug dosages are clear, conducting the large-scale clinical trials required to implement the treatment in practice is a complex and costly process which means cancer treatments currently on offer remain standardised rather than personalised," Dr Reuter Lange said.
