Molecular Profiling and Companion Diagnostics: Where is Personalized Medicine in Cancer Heading?

Authors and Disclosures

Mukesh Verma

Methods & Technologies Branch, Epidemiology & Genomics Research Program, Division of Cancer Control & Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Rockville, MD 20850, USA Tel.: +1 240 276 6889 Fax: +1 240 276 7921 vermam@rnail.nih.gov

Sidebar

Executive Summary

Personalized medicine has a bright future

• Personalized medicine in cancer can facilitate tailoring preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to molecular profiling and other technologies applicable to an individual or population. It should be co-developed with companion diagnostics (CoDx).

Molecular biomarkers as part of clinical practice

• Biomarkers and drug targets have been identified, but integrating them into clinical practice remains a challenge.

False-positive results

• False-positive results are very common in the 'omics' and imaging technologies that are commonly used to diagnose cancer.

Tumor heterogeneity

• Histopathology should be combined with molecular pathology because of the heterogeneity in tumors.

Staff training required

• Medical staff should be trained in analyzing and interpreting results from molecular profiling procedures.

Molecular imaging

• Molecular imaging is the most promising aspect of personalized medicine that can be applied directly in decision-making.