precision medicine

“Fundamentally, if you do more whole genome sequencing, you’ll discover more targetable alterations, and once you have this information you can consider whether there are any clinical trials available for your patient.” The advice comes from Giuseppe Curigliano, Head of…

Four years ago, clinical trials were little discussed in oncology circles in Kenya. In common with the rest of East  Africa, there was no clinical research unit to study treatments for non-communicable diseases such as cancer. No cancer patient living…

There have been great strides in our understanding of cancer genomics - the mutational events that lead to high cancer risks and those that drive progression in cancer patients. Using vast databases such The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) from the…

Every year, around 2.3 million people across the globe are diagnosed with breast cancer. For lack of access to the right diagnostic test, many of them are being treated with chemotherapy that is doing them more harm than good –…

RAS oncogenes and their proteins have central roles in almost all cancers, including leukaemias, multiple myelomas, skin cancers and many solid tumours, making the RAS protein family an ideal cancer target. But efforts to develop clinically efficacious drugs to target…

CRISPR is a revolutionary gene-editing tool that allows scientists to cut DNA with extraordinary precision and make changes to the genome. The technology was a gift to cancer researchers, whose efforts to understand the roles played by different genes rely…

Precision medicine is transforming the way we treat cancer. Oncology is evolving from treating purely on the basis of a broad indication to a tailored approach that is based on a tumour’s molecular characteristics, and usually requires complex combinations of…

Developments in molecular diagnostics are allowing us to capture an extraordinarily detailed picture of the genomic and other molecular changes that characterise a given tumour specimen. But making best use of the information at our disposal is proving quite a…

Precision cancer medicine aims to improve diagnosis and treatment at the molecular level. Although genomics has influenced what precision medicine encompasses today, research is at a turning point. There is currently a common public (and often governmental) misconception that data…

The nature of the doctor–patient relationship has gone through various phases in history, based on the changing role of the physician in the community, as well as progress in medicine and increased choices of care, together with better-informed patients. Broadly…