Restating the obvious.

Men and women are different. That’s the thesis underscoring the groundbreaking personalized medicine of 2019. This prospective observational study of men (n=40) and women (n=23) with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) indicates per serial MRIs that women have superior volumetric responses following standard resection and adjuvant radiation with concurrent and maintenance temozolomide, and the clearest differences emerged during the maintenance temozolomide. To help explain this, sex-specific tumor genomics were identified. Derangements in the cell-cycle appeared to be a bigger player among females and integrin-signaling a bigger player among men, all confirmed by in-vitro chemosensitivity assays. In other words, the presence of one genetic signature (e.g., that relates to the cell cycle) was predictive of response to chemo in women but not in men. And vice-versa for another genetic signature (e.g., that relates to integrin signaling). TBL: We need to use what our mamas and daddys gave us in combo with sex-specific genetic signatures to best predict therapeutic response in GBM—and likely a whole host of other malignancies. | Yang, Sci Trans Med 2019