Dr. Kambhampati on the Impact of Next-Generation Sequencing in AML

Suman Kambhampati, MD, co-medical director, Blood Cancer Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the impact of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

One of the key themes from the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting was the impact of NGS for therapy selection in patients with AML, says Kambhampati. Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center presented data on a large number of patients showing that NGS is feasible. The study reported that the turn-around time was approximately 9 days, which Kambhampati notes is remarkable.

They also showed that over 60% of patients had an actionable mutation and were able to receive targeted therapy. Additionally, patients who were able to get those targeted therapies had an improvement in relapse-free survival.

Kambhampati notes that this study showed the value of NGS in the field of AML and offers insight into the future landscape. Future prospective studies may reveal the impact of a broad panel of NGS in patients with AML and how it will impact therapy selection.