{"entity":{"id":"compass-study-pancreatic","kind":"term","name":"COMPASS: real-time sequencing of advanced pancreatic cancer for treatment selection","aka":["COMPASS trial","COMPASS study","Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Advanced Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma for Better Treatment Selection","PanCuRx"],"tldr":"COMPASS was the Canadian study that took a fresh biopsy from people about to start chemotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer, sequenced the whole genome and RNA within the time of a treatment decision, and showed that the basal-like subtype predicts poor response to first-line chemotherapy.","summary":"Run from the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, COMPASS enrolled patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma before first-line chemotherapy, took a core biopsy and returned whole-genome and RNA sequencing results in a clinically useful time; the first report covered 63 patients and showed the approach was feasible and that the Moffitt classical and basal-like signatures could be assigned from biopsies (Aung 2018). In 195 patients, basal-like tumours (20%) responded to first-line chemotherapy in 10% against 33%, progressed on modified FOLFIRINOX in 60% against 15% and had median overall survival of 5.9 against 9.3 months; GATA6 in situ hybridisation reproduced the call with sensitivity 89% and specificity 83% (O'Kane 2020). The purified whole genomes from COMPASS and the PanCuRx resection cohort then showed that the subtypes form a continuum set partly by mutant KRAS dosage, with hybrid tumours of intermediate survival (Chan-Seng-Yue 2020). COMPASS is the source of the subtype figures on the record and the reason a GATA6 stain is proposed as a practical subtype test; a prospective subtype-directed trial has yet to change a guideline.","asOf":"2026-09-24","links":[{"label":"Aung et al., Clin Cancer Res 2018: COMPASS, real-time whole-genome and RNA sequencing of 63 advanced patients","url":"https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-2994"},{"label":"O'Kane et al., Clin Cancer Res 2020: GATA6 and the basal-like subtype in 195 COMPASS patients","url":"https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-3724"},{"label":"Chan-Seng-Yue et al., Nat Genet 2020: transcription phenotypes driven by genomic events (purified whole genomes)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-019-0566-9"}],"tags":["pancreatic-molecular"],"related":[],"cancers":["pancreatic","metastatic-pdac","locally-advanced-pdac"],"sections":[],"technologies":["wes-wgs","rna-seq"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["gata6-classical-basal-marker","classical-vs-basal-like","kras-allelic-imbalance"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-aung-compass-early-results-ccr-2018","paper-okane-gata6-basal-like-compass-ccr-2020","paper-chan-seng-yue-pancreatic-transcription-phenotypes-nat-genet-2020"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Trials"},"route":"/terms/compass-study-pancreatic/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"locally-advanced-pdac","kind":"cancer","name":"Locally advanced unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/locally-advanced-pdac/"},{"id":"metastatic-pdac","kind":"cancer","name":"Metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/metastatic-pdac/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"}],"technology":[{"id":"rna-seq","kind":"technology","name":"RNA sequencing & expression profiling","route":"/technologies/rna-seq/"},{"id":"wes-wgs","kind":"technology","name":"Whole-exome & whole-genome sequencing","route":"/technologies/wes-wgs/"}],"term":[{"id":"classical-vs-basal-like","kind":"term","name":"Classical versus basal-like (squamous) subtypes of pancreatic cancer, and GATA6","route":"/terms/classical-vs-basal-like/"},{"id":"gata6-classical-basal-marker","kind":"term","name":"GATA6 as the marker of classical versus basal-like pancreatic cancer","route":"/terms/gata6-classical-basal-marker/"},{"id":"kras-allelic-imbalance","kind":"term","name":"KRAS allelic imbalance and mutant KRAS dosage in pancreatic cancer","route":"/terms/kras-allelic-imbalance/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-okane-gata6-basal-like-compass-ccr-2020","kind":"paper","name":"GATA6 expression distinguishes classical and basal-like subtypes in advanced pancreatic cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-okane-gata6-basal-like-compass-ccr-2020/"},{"id":"paper-aung-compass-early-results-ccr-2018","kind":"paper","name":"Genomics-driven precision medicine for advanced pancreatic cancer: early results from the COMPASS trial","route":"/key-papers/paper-aung-compass-early-results-ccr-2018/"},{"id":"paper-chan-seng-yue-pancreatic-transcription-phenotypes-nat-genet-2020","kind":"paper","name":"Transcription phenotypes of pancreatic cancer are driven by genomic events during tumor evolution","route":"/key-papers/paper-chan-seng-yue-pancreatic-transcription-phenotypes-nat-genet-2020/"}]}}