What Is Personalized Medicine?
In recent years, there has been a growing understanding that in order to treat cancer most effectively, treatment must be tailored to the specific characteristics of each patient’s disease. This approach is commonly referred to as “Personalized Medicine.”
Cancer is, among other things, the result of genomic changes (changes in DNA) that are responsible for the onset and progression of the disease. By characterizing the unique molecular profile of each patient, it is possible to identify malfunctions in genes and proteins that are responsible for the cancerous process. The information obtained from the test can help the doctor personalize the treatment for the patient, according to the genetic characteristics of their tumor. Furthermore, these tests can help rule out treatments that are likely to be ineffective for the tumor.
In Simple Words
Imagine two patients diagnosed with the same type of cancer, in the same location and of the same size. Even if both receive the same treatment, often one will respond positively while the other will not respond at all—or the disease may even progress. Why? Because every patient is different, and every tumor is different!
Molecular profiling is the most significant breakthrough in cancer diagnostics over the past decade. Unlike imaging technologies such as X-ray, MRI, or PET-CT—which examine the tumor as a mass of cells, like a “black box”—personalized medicine goes one step further into the depths of the cell, searching for the small molecules responsible for the cancerous process. And to name them: genes and proteins.
This type of diagnosis makes it possible to distinguish between two patients who seemingly have the same disease, since the real difference lies in specific gene mutations and protein overexpression.
Therefore, characterizing the molecular profile allows us to predict, uniquely for each patient, which treatments are most suitable, and helps avoid unnecessary treatments that would provide no benefit.
