My husband and I went to Weill-Cornell last week and went over the genomic testing (“Oncomine”) results from the metastasis that was removed in March. I found it very interesting that the “met” that was tested had only two (tp53 and apc) of the three mutations that the primary tumor (tp53, apc, and mtor in the original colon tumor) had. Also interestingly, the two (tp53 and apc) were exactly the same variants as were in the primary. From what I understand, this is a good sign. Usually, if a cancer is getting wily and evolving to evade the body’s defenses and chemo, there will be new/different mutations.
Also, the one that was not detected, mTOR, is positively correlated with type 2 diabetes. My husband has been taking supplements that target his blood sugar and working on his diet (not great but far better than when he was ~400 pounds before I ever met him). I wonder if that is making the difference.
We are awaiting results from a liquid biopsy and whole exome sequencing. (I started another threat about EXaCT1, the whole exome sequencing test.) It would be very interesting to get a whole exome sequencing test on his first and second colon primary tumors to compare to the liver met. There's also his first liver met preserved and untested.