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Greetings!
Thank you for your unwavering support of our work and the ovarian cancer patients that we serve. Below you will find a summary of our accomplishments in 2010 that were possible because of your generosity.
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2010 Highlights
 All of you particitpated in our many fund-raising activities to support Clearity and other ovarian cancer organizations. Click here for a slide show of some of these activities. This allowed us to: - Provide tumor "blueprints" to an additional 75 women with ovarian cancer
- Provide support to each of these women and their physicians to assist them in their understanding of how the information from tumor profiling can help them
- Enhance our reports of patient tumor results with improved graphics generated from data in the Diane Barton database so that the patient and physician can easily interpret the results
- Add more analyses to evaluate data stored in the Diane Barton database that enable us to compare tumor profiles with treatment responses.
- Present our first results from analysis of 58 patient tumor profiles at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. These data contribute to the growing knowledge of ovarian cancer in the scientific community
- Present the Clearity Foundation vision and mission for personalized ovarian cancer treatment at multiple venues throughout the year, including the BIO International Conference (Chicago, IL) and the first annual California TEAL Symposium (Sacramento, CA)
- We also obtained a grant from the California Ovarian Cancer Awareness Program (COCAP) to collect, review, and post on our website the published scientific evidence that provides the rationale for the tests in our profiles
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About Molecular Profiling
The Clearity Foundation has provided its molecular profiling service for over two years and has profiled the tumors of nearly 200 women. The Diane Barton Database has captured the results from tests that measure the expression of tumor biomarkers in women with ovarian cancer. Each woman is tracked over time and their treatment outcomes are recorded in the database although each person's confidential information is protected. With this database, Clearity and physicians are correlating tumor profiles with outcomes and identifying tumors that have similar profiles. The goal is that these data will provide additional evidence for the treatment paradigm for ovarian cancer on an individual basis.
Molecular profiling, or tumor "blueprints", utilizes a combination of technologies such as immuno-histochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), mutational analysis and microarrays all run by CLIA-certified labs. These assays measure the level and state of specific proteins, RNA and DNA in the tumor to identify which pathways are important for its growth and survival. By identifying the alterations in each tumor's information pathways, molecular profiling can individualize a patient's treatment by matching the tumor with one or more drugs that target those pathways. These drugs are expected to be the most effective for that individual. In addition, a profiling test panel includes molecular markers that indicate whether a patient's tumor is likely to be resistant to certain chemotherapy agents. By determining that a tumor is more likely to be resistant to certain drugs that to others, it is possible to prioritize treatments that have a better chance to attack the tumor.
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Happy Holidays and A Healthy New Year,
The staff and volunteers at
The Clearity Foundation
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