Katie Gordon | BioTechniques | Dec. 11, 2019

As well as providing more detailed information on a tumor’s genetic changes, RNA sequencing could provide an option to tailor treatments for more difficult to treat cases, such as those where genetic information is harder to acquire.

In particular, researchers have considered the role of RNA sequencing for pediatric cancer cases. Many tumors in children do not possess actionable DNA aberrations so DNA sequencing is not an option when devising targeting treatments.

A recent study, published in JAMA Network Open, evaluated the feasibility and usefulness of comparative RNA sequencing analyses of pediatric tumors across four different precision medicine studies.

“In pediatric cancer, it often isn’t a DNA mutation driving the cancer but an error in development caused by a change in how gene expression is regulated,” explained corresponding author Olena Vaske (University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA). “We showed for the first time that this framework can be used consistently across separate precision medicine clinical trials.”

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