The use of nanoimmunoassay (NIA) technology to predict response to insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R) inhibition in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) (University of Virginia, AACR 2012)

Background: Signaling from the IGF1R plays a role in resistance to anti‐cancer therapy in HNSCC. Thus, targeted inhibition of the IGF1R holds substantial therapeutic potential. While several inhibitors of the IGF1R are in clinical trials, there is no biomarker that predicts tumor responsiveness to anti-IGF1R therapy. Such a predictive biomarker is likely to be a component of the most prominent downstream signaling cascades from the IGF1R, which include the MEK/ERK or PI3K/AKT pathways that principally regulate proliferation and survival, respectively. Hypothesis: Short‐term changes in the activation status of downstream signaling proteins will be predictive of long‐term tumor response to inhibitors of the IGF1R, and these changes will be detectable in minimal tissue samples using NIA technology.