Precision Medicine in Abdominal Cancers
PI: Toni Seppälä
Research
Precision medicine offers tools to identify optimally timed and molecularly targeted therapies for cancer. While these opportunities are emerging in abdominal cancers, they remain underutilized in the Finnish healthcare system due to limited access to molecular profiling, inflexible drug reimbursement policies, and restricted access to interventional clinical trials.
Selecting the Right Patients at the Right Time
Our research group leverages state-of-the-art circulating cell-free DNA technologies, along with germline and tumor genomics, to identify patients at the highest risk of developing cancer or experiencing recurrence. This includes stratifying individuals with hereditary germline risk variants, as well as patients with seemingly sporadic cancers under surveillance, to better predict their future risk.
Profiling Tumors and Predicting Response
Patient-derived organoids provide a powerful platform for creating personalized 3D models of individual tumors, enabling detailed molecular profiling and ex vivo assessment of treatment response. Our growing biobank of organoids from hundreds of patients allows integration of genomic and transcriptomic data with clinical and experimental responses to inform treatment decisions. Organoid pharmacotyping can predict responses to combination therapies, while the epithelial nature of these models enables high-quality molecular characterization and improved sequencing accuracy.
From Discovery to Clinical Impact
Through comprehensive profiling—including whole-exome sequencing, bulk and single-cell transcriptomics, and spatial immuno-omics—we identify key molecular vulnerabilities and biological features of cancers with poor prognosis. Beyond profiling, our goal is to translate these insights into actionable strategies by leveraging all targetable alterations and optimizing use of existing standard-of-care treatments. This data-driven approach moves beyond one-size-fits-all care toward more precise, individualized management. In parallel, we are advancing less invasive treatment strategies for colorectal cancer through clinical trials.