Genomic analysis and personalized cancer therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer.

568 Background: Standard approaches in cancer research identify new therapies based on observed benefit to average populations but without emphasis on individual patients whose responses can vary considerably. Also, targeted therapies rarely account for the genomic complexity of patient tumors; the result is poor efficacy and rapid resistance. We would identify drugs or drug cocktails that (1) target the details of an individual’s tumor and (2) account for its complexity. Models using the fruit fly Drosophila represent a potential new paradigm in cancer therapy. We have developed fly models that can include up to 10 of a patient’s tumor’s driver mutations; the result is an inexpensive drug-screening platform to identify drug cocktails through empirical screening. Methods: Patients with metastatic CRC who have progressed or become intolerant to fluoropyrimidines, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, avastin, and (if KRAS wild-type) EGFR inhibitor therapy. Mutations identified by deep DNA and RNA sequencing of individu...