Hands-on training equips Ivoirian clinicians with the tools for fast, accurate cancer diagnosis 

In late 2019, the University Hospital Center (CHU) Treichville in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire began exploring the treatment of aggressive forms of breast cancer with immunotherapy. Immunotherapies are a type of targeted cancer treatment that, unlike chemotherapy and radiation, avoid harming healthy cells. Despite their enthusiasm, the CHU Treichville team was unable to proceed due to their limited experience performing the advanced diagnostic tests needed to confirm a patient’s eligibility for immunotherapy.  

Determined to address this knowledge gap, Prof. Isidore Mohenou Diomande—Head of the CHU Treichville Anatomic Pathology Department and President of the Ivorian Society of Pathology—and Dr. N’Da Marcelin Homian—a medical oncologist at CHU Treichville— set out for Seattle, Washington in February of 2020. With support from Friends of Cancer Patients – The Ameera Fund, BVGH organized an intensive two-week fellowship for Prof. Diomande and Dr. Homian at PhenoPath Laboratories, a Quest Diagnostics company that specializes in advanced diagnostic techniques to provide earlier and more accurate diagnosis of adult and pediatric cancers. Using their expertise in immunohistochemistry and advanced flow cytometry, PhenoPath specialists instructed Prof. Diomande and Dr. Homian in interpreting immunotherapy biomarkers to determine which patients could benefit the most from immunotherapy. Prof. Diomande remarked, “Accurate interpretation of immunotherapy biomarkers by pathologists will be very important for our breast and colon cancer patients. I plan to teach my pathology students what I have learned so the knowledge can be passed on and we can save more lives.” Additionally, the physicians brought with them 40 breast and colon tissue samples to the lab where, with help from the PhenoPath experts, the samples were cut and stained with a panel of immunostains. The result was a library of approximately 700 tissue slides that the physicians could use to obtain unprecedented insight into the unique features of colon and breast cancers in their patient populations.  

As an NGO president, researcher, and primary instructor of pathology students in Francophone Africa, Prof. Diomande and his newfound skills will be instrumental in improving cancer patient outcomes in Côte d’Ivoire and beyond. Since his return to Côte d’Ivoire, Prof. Diomande has incorporated the slide library as a permanent addition to his teaching curriculum for students specializing in pathology. More recently he has launched a clinical research study focused on the effects of immunotherapy on triple negative breast cancer. Prof. Diomande noted that the knowledge and skills he acquired at PhenoPath have helped him gain valuable insights into the characteristics of this distinctly aggressive and deadly form of breast cancer.