Optimizing Treatment with Molecular Tumor Boards-Optimizing Treatment with Molecular Tumor Boards

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar explained how Molecular Tumor Boards (MTBs) support personalized cancer care by reviewing complex molecular and genetic test results in a multidisciplinary setting. Speakers from the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center described the purpose, structure, and benefits of MTBs, including helping clinicians interpret increasingly complex next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, identify actionable alterations, recommend targeted therapies or clinical trials, and decide when additional testing such as liquid or tissue biopsy is needed.<br /><br />The MTB team includes medical oncologists, pathologists, genetic counselors, radiologists, basic scientists, pharmacists, clinical trial coordinators, and administrative staff. They emphasized that these boards improve care by standardizing review, matching patients to therapies more effectively, expanding access to clinical trials, and supporting germline testing when hereditary cancer risk is suspected.<br /><br />Markey’s MTB, launched in 2016, serves physicians across the state of Kentucky and handles both administrative reviews and live multidisciplinary case conferences. The center highlighted its rural and Appalachian patient population and high state cancer burden, showing that MTB review was associated with improved survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients, including those treated in community settings.<br /><br />A detailed case example demonstrated how pathology, molecular findings, clinical context, and germline risk are integrated into a unified recommendation letter. The speakers also shared practical lessons: the importance of collaboration, workflow standardization, data management, trial matching, funding, and ongoing education. They recommended resources such as NCCN, ASCO, OncoKB, ClinVar, cBioPortal, and genetic counseling organizations for institutions building or improving their own MTBs.

Keywords

Molecular Tumor Board

personalized cancer care

next-generation sequencing

actionable alterations

targeted therapy

clinical trials

germline testing

multidisciplinary review

non-small cell lung cancer

genetic counseling