A New Clinic-Genetic Risk Score for Predicting Venous Thromboembolic Events in Cancer Patient

Overview

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common disease in cancer patients and one of the major causes of cancer-associated mortality. Risk for developing VTE increases when cancer patients are receiving chemotherapy. Current risk scores for predicting cancer-associated VTE in ambulatory patients had low/moderate discrimination and clinical sensitivity. These models use clinical and biochemical parameters of the patient. In the development of VTE genetics play a relevant role. The product Thrombo inCode (TiC) assess VTE risk prediction by using a combination of a genetic risk score (GRS) and clinical parameters from the patient. The investigators hypothesized that the GRS included in TiC combined with clinical parameter some of them associated with cancer could be better predicted by TiC than by current risk scores (Khorana score). After publishing the primary results in 2018, we have expanded the GRS in a external validation cohort adding gliomas and biliary tract tumors. Also we have incorporated the assessment of D-dimer in order to improve the predictive capability.

The working hypothesis of this study establishes that the risk of cancer patients suffering a thromboembolic event is conditioned by individual genomic factors. The genes to be analyzed have clearly demonstrated their relationship with thromboembolic disease in other clinical contexts. This study is considered the initiation of a field of research in genomic risk markers indicating a risk of thrombosis in cancer patients. The ultimate goal of the study is to establish a clinic-genomic score for selecting patients with a high risk of suffering thrombotic events who can benefit from guided thromboprophylaxis. Its secondary goal is to prevent the adverse effects of ineffective therapies in other patients (low-risk patients not requiring an anti-thrombotic prophylaxis). The aim is to demonstrate the link between the clinic-genetic profile and the risk of suffering thromboembolic events in the group of cancer patients. The working hypothesis establishes that cancer patients who develop thrombotic events will have a higher score for the thrombosis risk clinic-genetic profile than cancer patients not developing thromboembolic events. The second aim is to analyze whether the thrombosis clinic-genetic risk score improves the detection of patients at risk of suffering a thromboembolic event compared to the Khorana predictive model routinely used (Khorana score). Current validations ongoing: An external retrospective validation adding 250 patients more and including D-dimer and other types of high-risk neoplasm. An external prospective validation (second ONCOTRHROMB12-01 cohort 2) adding 450 patients more and including D-dimer and other types of high-risk neoplasm.