Personalized medicine,also referred to as precision medicine,is a medical model that separates people into different groups—with medical decisions,practices,interventions and/or products being tailored to the individual patient based on their predicted response or risk of disease. The terms personalized medicine,precision medicine,stratified medicine and P4 medicine are used interchangeably to describe this concept,though some authors and organizations differentiate between these expressions based on particular nuances. P4 is short for "predictive,preventive,personalized and participatory".
MammaPrint is a prognostic and predictive diagnostic test for early stage breast cancer patients that assess the risk that a tumor will metastasize to other parts of the body. It gives a binary result,high-risk or low-risk classification,and helps physicians determine whether or not a patient will benefit from chemotherapy. Women with a low risk result can safely forego chemotherapy without decreasing likelihood of disease free survival. MammaPrint is part of the personalized medicine portfolio marketed by Agendia.
The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a project to catalogue the genomic alterations responsible for cancer using genome sequencing and bioinformatics. The overarching goal was to apply high-throughput genome analysis techniques to improve the ability to diagnose,treat,and prevent cancer through a better understanding of the genetic basis of the disease.
The basal-like carcinoma is a recently proposed subtype of breast cancer defined by its gene expression and protein expression profile.
Breast cancer classification divides breast cancer into categories according to different schemes criteria and serving a different purpose. The major categories are the histopathological type,the grade of the tumor,the stage of the tumor,and the expression of proteins and genes. As knowledge of cancer cell biology develops these classifications are updated.
Cancer is a category of disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth and proliferation. For cancer to develop,genes regulating cell growth and differentiation must be altered;these mutations are then maintained through subsequent cell divisions and are thus present in all cancerous cells. Gene expression profiling is a technique used in molecular biology to query the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously. In the context of cancer,gene expression profiling has been used to more accurately classify tumors. The information derived from gene expression profiling often helps in predicting the patient's clinical outcome.
Cancer genome sequencing is the whole genome sequencing of a single,homogeneous or heterogeneous group of cancer cells. It is a biochemical laboratory method for the characterization and identification of the DNA or RNA sequences of cancer cell(s).
Targeted molecular therapy for neuroblastoma involves treatment aimed at molecular targets that have a unique expression in this form of cancer. Neuroblastoma,the second most common pediatric malignant tumor,often involves treatment through intensive chemotherapy. A number of molecular targets have been identified for the treatment of high-risk forms of this disease. Aiming treatment in this way provides a more selective way to treat the disease,decreasing the risk for toxicities that are associated with the typical treatment regimen. Treatment using these targets can supplement or replace some of the intensive chemotherapy that is used for neuroblastoma. These molecular targets of this disease include GD2,ALK,and CD133. GD2 is a target of immunotherapy,and is the most fully developed of these treatment methods,but is also associated with toxicities. ALK has more recently been discovered,and drugs in development for this target are proving to be successful in neuroblastoma treatment. The role of CD133 in neuroblastoma has also been more recently discovered and is an effective target for treatment of this disease.
Molecular diagnostics is a collection of techniques used to analyze biological markers in the genome and proteome,and how their cells express their genes as proteins,applying molecular biology to medical testing. In medicine the technique is used to diagnose and monitor disease,detect risk,and decide which therapies will work best for individual patients,and in agricultural biosecurity similarly to monitor crop- and livestock disease,estimate risk,and decide what quarantine measures must be taken.
Patient derived xenografts (PDX) are models of cancer where the tissue or cells from a patient's tumor are implanted into an immunodeficient or humanized mouse. It is a form of xenotransplantation. PDX models are used to create an environment that allows for the continued growth of cancer after its removal from a patient. In this way,tumor growth can be monitored in the laboratory,including in response to potential therapeutic options. Cohorts of PDX models can be used to determine the therapeutic efficiency of a therapy against particular types of cancer,or a PDX model from a specific patient can be tested against a range of therapies in a 'personalized oncology' approach.
Membrane progesterone receptors (mPRs) are a group of cell surface receptors and membrane steroid receptors belonging to the progestin and adipoQ receptor (PAQR) family which bind the endogenous progestogen and neurosteroid progesterone,as well as the neurosteroid allopregnanolone. Unlike the progesterone receptor (PR),a nuclear receptor which mediates its effects via genomic mechanisms,mPRs are cell surface receptors which rapidly alter cell signaling via modulation of intracellular signaling cascades. The mPRs mediate important physiological functions in male and female reproductive tracts,liver,neuroendocrine tissues,and the immune system as well as in breast and ovarian cancer.
Norman Edward "Ned" Sharpless is the previous Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Before that,Sharpless was Professor of Medicine and Genetics Chair,Director of University of North Carolina UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center,Molecular Therapeutics,Wellcome Distinguished Professorship in Cancer Research.
Prognostic markers are biomarkers used to measure the progress of a disease in the patient sample. Prognostic markers are useful to stratify the patients into groups,guiding towards precise medicine discovery. The widely used prognostic markers in cancers include stage,size,grade,node and metastasis. In addition to these common markers,there are prognostic markers specific to different cancer types. For example estrogen level,progesterone and HER2 are markers specific to breast cancer patients. There is evidence showing that genes behaving as tumor suppressors or carcinogens could act as prognostic markers due to altered gene expression or mutation. Besides genetic biomarkers,there are also biomarkers that are detected in plasma or body fluid which can be metabolic or protein biomarkers.
The Immunologic Constant of Rejection (ICR),is a notion introduced by biologists to group a shared set of genes expressed in tissue destructive-pathogenic conditions like cancer and infection,along a diverse set of physiological circumstances of tissue damage or organ failure,including autoimmune disease or allograft rejection. The identification of shared mechanisms and phenotypes by distinct immune pathologies,marked as a hallmarks or biomarkers,aids in the identification of novel treatment options,without necessarily assessing patients phenomenologies individually.
Benita S. Katzenellenbogen née Schulman is an American physiologist and cell biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has studied cancer,endocrinology,and women's health,focusing on nuclear receptors. She also dedicated efforts to focusing on improving the effectiveness of endocrine therapies in breast cancer.
Thea D. Tlsty is an American pathologist and professor of pathology at the University of California,San Francisco (UCSF). She is known for her research in cancer biology and her involvement in the discovery of cells that may be at the origin of metaplastic cancer,an invasive form of breast cancer.
Montserrat García-Closas, M.D.,M.P.H.,Dr.P.H.,is a Spanish researcher and academic who is best known for her works on identifying cancer biomarkers and genetic susceptibility to cancer. Dr. García-Closas serves as the deputy director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology &Genetics (DCEG) of the National Cancer Institute,as well as the Acting Chief of the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch of the DCEG.
David "Neil" Hayes is an American oncologist and physician–scientist. He is the Van Vleet Endowed Professor in Medical Oncology and the division chief of haematology and oncology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. As a result of his research,Hayes was elected a Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Xiaohong Rose Yang is an American biomedical scientist researching the genetics of dysplastic nevus syndrome and chordoma,and etiologic heterogeneity of breast cancer. She is a senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute. Yang leads breast cancer studies in mainland China,Hong Kong,and Malaysia.
Christina Curtis is an American scientist who is a Professor of Medicine,Genetics and Biomedical Data Science and an Endowed Scholar at Stanford University where her research investigates the evolution of tumors. She is director of Artificial Intelligence and Cancer Genomics at Stanford University School of Medicine and is on the board of directors of the American Association for Cancer Research.
