About PROFYLE

For any parent, the thought of their child having cancer is heartbreaking and scary. There are many unknowns that come with a cancer diagnosis that only time can answer. For example, will the cancer treatment be effective? Will my child survive?

Over the last three decades, there has been a dramatic improvement in treatments and outcomes for many childhood cancers. Four out of five patients will be cured.

Sadly, however, in 20 percent of patients, their cancers have spread, come back or have proved resistant to treatment. For this group, outcomes remain poor a situation no parent wants to be in.

Fortunately, the PRecision Oncology For Young peopLE (PROFYLE) program is bringing new hope to the 20 percent of young cancer patients (29 years or younger) with hard-to-cure cancers.

There are 16 pediatric cancer centres, and several adult centres across Canada participating in PROFYLE, and IWK Health is very proud to be one of them. PROFYLE has brought together leaders in childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer research, care, genomics/genetics, proteomics, health economics, health policy, and biomedical ethics from across Canada, and integrates end-users and advocates in every province. They are working together to change care for patients who might otherwise lose hope.

Since PROFYLE was officially introduced to the general public in 2017, the program has been successful at democratizing access to the first national, multi-institutional Canadian precision oncology pipeline in an effort to reduce mortality, morbidity, and improve quality of life for young Canadians with hard-to-cure cancers through the identification of potential new personalized cancer treatment/care options.

Many patients treated at the IWK have had the opportunity to participate in PROFYLE with the hope that new treatments will be identified. To date, more than 1,100 children, adolescents, and young adults with hard-to-cure cancer from across Canada have enrolled in PROFYLE and the legacy programs, including many patients from the IWK.

By supporting PROFYLE, you are investing in life-saving research that will change lives and the future for so many children and families.