The Canadian Path from Discovery to Implementation of Personalized Medicine Approaches.

Personalized (or precision) medicine approaches are currently being introduced in healthcare delivery following the development of new technologies and of novel ways to integrate and analyze various data sources. This editorial describes the efforts invested since 2012 by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to foster the development and implementation of personalized medicine in Canada. Success stories from past investments as well as future developments are presented from a Canadian perspective.

Integrating Personalized Medicine in the Canadian Environment: Efforts Facilitating Oncology Clinical Research.

There is currently a rapid evolution of clinical practices based on the introduction of patient stratification and molecular diagnosis that is likely to improve health outcomes. Building on a strong research base, complemented by strong support from clinicians and health authorities, the oncology field is at the forefront of this evolution. Yet, clinical research is still facing many challenges that need to be addressed in order to conduct necessary studies and effectively translate medical breakthroughs based on personalized medicine into standards of care.

Incremental costs of prostate cancer trials: Are clinical trials really a burden on a public payer system?

Introduction: Clinical trials are a critical component of improving cancer prevention and treatment strategies. However, the perception that patients enrolled in trials consume more resources than those receiving the standard-of-care (SOC) has contributed to an increasingly research-averse environment. Current economic data pertaining to the per-patient costs of prostate cancer trials relative to SOC treatment are limited.

Racial differences in acute toxicities of neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Background: Racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes are attributed to differences in baseline tumour characteristics and biology, stage, age, ethnic background and socioeconomic factors. However, little is known about racial differences in treatment-related toxicities. We hypothesised that racial/ethnic differences result in differential tolerance to chemotherapy potentially, leading to compromised dose intensity/density of chemotherapy in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Promoting nursing research and innovation by staff nurses.

Promoting nursing research participation is challenging. Since the creation of an internal fund for research and innovation, 11 projects have received funding with a doubling of staff participation. The success of this novel funding opportunity highlights the need for this type of support and demonstrates success in promoting nursing research.

Drug cost avoidance resulting from cancer clinical trials.

The purpose of the study was to determine if economic benefits result when cancer clinical trial patients receive sponsor-provided drug, thereby avoiding standard care drug costs for which institutions are financially responsible. All open, closed and terminated oncology trial protocols and drug dispensing data from 1992-2007 were reviewed for the lung, hematology, neurology, genitourinary and gynecology tumor groups at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. Actual and projected, potential drug cost avoidance per patient and per drug from the trials was determined.

Comparison of CD34 and monocyte-derived dendritic cells from mobilized peripheral blood from cancer patients.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells that are integral to the initiation of T-cell immunity. Two cell types can be used as a source for generating DCs: monocytes and CD34(+) stem cells. Despite many investigations characterizing DCs, none have performed a direct paired comparison of monocyte and stem cell-derived DCs.

Priming with dendritic cells can generate strong cytotoxic T cell responses to chronic myelogenous leukemia cells in vitro.

Dendritic cells (DC) are antigen-presenting cells that can elicit potent antigen-specific responses. Since the development of techniques to cultivate these cells from peripheral blood, there has been a great deal of interest in their use in immunotherapeutic strategies. Here we show that morphologically, phenotypically, and functionally characteristic DC can be generated in vitro from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from frozen apheresis product (AP) of cancer patients.

Influence of mesna on the pharmacokinetics of cisplatin and carboplatin in pediatric cancer patients.

Mesna, a reactive thiol, often encounters cisplatin and carboplatin in combination protocols involving oxazaphosphorines and platinum drugs. This co-administration might be unfavorable based on the inactivation of platinum drugs by thiol groups in vitro. We investigated whether mesna influences the pharmacokinetics of platinum drugs when co-administered with cisplatin or carboplatin.

Primary dendritic cells phagocytose Cryptococcus neoformans via mannose receptors and Fcgamma receptor II for presentation to T lymphocytes.

Different "professional" antigen-presenting cells (APC) have unique characteristics that favor or restrict presentation of microbial antigens to T cells, depending on the organism. Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic yeast that presents unique challenges to APC, including its large size, its rigid cell wall, and its ability to stimulate T cells as a mitogen. T-cell proliferation in response to the C.