Blood & Cancer

The NCI-MATCH trial was designed to reveal mutations in underexplored cancer types, allowing researchers to match patients to appropriate targeted therapies. Study investigator Alice P. Chen, MD, from the National Cancer Institute, reviews the goals and results of NCI-MATCH with host David H. Henry, MD, in this episode. Trial details NCI-MATCH has more than 1,000 participating sites. The trial is open to patients with advanced cancers that have progressed on standard treatment or rare cancers for which there is no standard treatment. Investigators use next-generation sequencing to identify mutations in tumor biopsies taken before the start of therapy. Sequencing is performed at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; MoCha at NCI’s Frederick (Md.) National Lab; Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; and commercial labs. Matching patients to treatment When a patient is found to have an actionable mutation, that patient is assigned to an investigational treatment, typically mo