The Italian study "Rome trial", presented on September 15 at the ESMO Congress (European Society for Medical Oncology), by researchers of Sapienza University of Rome, showed that molecularly targeted therapy and immunotherapy, when guided by genetic testing and the Molecular Tumour Board, are superior to standard cancer therapy, regardless of the type of neoplasm. 

With the involvement of 40 centres in Italy, 1,794 patients were studied over 4 years, including 897 with genomic alterations that were discussed in the Molecular Tumour Board - the interdisciplinary teams of oncologists, geneticists, molecular biologists, anatomopathologists, computer technicians, engineers and physicists dedicated to interpreting the data collected from the DNA tests.  Among them, 400 patients were enrolled and treated with molecularly targeted drugs and showed an advantage and a substantial change in their history. 

The results of the study confirm that the winning approach to cancer treatment today is to search for the genetic mutations present in the individual patient's malignancy, which are increasingly decisive for choosing the most suitable therapy with the highest probability of success.