PORTLAND, Ore. – Patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who have a particular genetic mutation are more likely to respond to Gleevec (imatinib) than those without the mutation, according to OHSU study results showcased at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The results confirm previous observations and provide a foundation for molecular testing that can predict who will best respond to treatment with Gleevec.

“Increasingly, there will be more drugs like Gleevec that are very specific in their action, and patients’ responses to them will be dictated by their tumor biology,” said Michael C. Heinrich, M.D., principal investigator of the study. “Performing molecular tests on patients’ tumors will be useful for doctors in determining how patients should be treated.”

Heinrich is a professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology) in the OHSU School of Medicine and the Portland Veteran Affairs Medical Center (PVAMC) and a member of the OHSU Cancer Institute.