Published in:
01-11-2012 | Translational Research and Biomarkers
Clinical Cancer Genome and Precision Medicine
Authors:
Dimitrios H. Roukos, Chee-Seng Ku, PhD
Published in:
Annals of Surgical Oncology
|
Issue 12/2012
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Abstract
Revolutionary sequencing technologies have changed biomedical research and life science exponentially. Revealing the whole landscape of causal somatic and inherited mutations underlying individual patient’s cancer sample by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and whole-exome sequencing (WES) can lead to not only a new mutations-based taxonomy of solid tumors (Stratton, Science 331:1553–1558,
2011). But also shapes a roadmap for precision medicine (Roychowdhury et al., Sci Transl Med 3:111ra121,
2011; Roukos, Expert Rev Mol Diagn 12:215–218,
2012; Mirnezami et al., N Engl J Med 366:489–491,
2012). This inevitable approach for personalized diagnostics in concert with free-falling genome sequencing costs raises now the question of applying next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in the clinic. In the pragmatic clinical world and in contrast to innovative research, is NGS-based clinical evidence sufficient for decision-making on tailoring the best available treatment to the individual cancer patient?