In line with the continuously expanding molecular landscape of cancer, the ESMO Precision Medicine Working Group (PMWG) has revised its recommendations for tumour next-generation sequencing (NGS). The original recommendations were released by ESMO in 2020,including guidance on the use of tumour multigene NGS for profiling frequent metastatic cancers. The research identified recurrent genomic alterations in the eight cancers with the highest global death rates, which were then ranked using the ESMO Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets (ESCAT). The recommendations supported the use of NGS in advanced non-squamous NSCLC, prostate, ovarian cancers and cholangiocarcinoma.
The updated recommendations published in Annals of Oncology reinforces the original publication and expands to reflect recent advances in precision medicine.
Key points include:
- The ESMO PMWG recommends tumour NGS for patients with advanced non-squamous NSCLC, breast, colorectal, prostate, and ovarian cancer.
- Tumour NGS is also advised for patients with advanced rare tumours such as CCA, GIST, sarcoma, thyroid cancer, and unfavourable CUP.
- ESMO suggests tumour NGS to identify tumour-agnostic alterations in advanced cancer patients where targeted therapies are available.
- These recommendations consider cost-effectiveness and ensure integration of important fusions in the NGS panel.
- The goal is to optimize personalized treatment strategies for patients with advanced cancers
Access to NGS and advanced technologies remains uneven across Europe and within individual countries, and the new recommendations are part of ESMOs continued efforts to build a framework for precision medicine that reaches all patients who can benefit from it.
Disclosures: This article was created by the touchONCOLOGY team utilizing AI as an editorial tool (ChatGPT (GPT-4o) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat.) The content was developed and edited by human editors. No funding was received in the publication of this article.
