How Personalised Medicine is Changing Cancer Treatment

How Personalised Medicine is Changing Cancer Treatment

Cancer is one of the most complex and diverse groups of diseases in the field of medicine, with some types being easily curable and some that don’t have any cure yet. For a disease like cancer, we can not go with the one-size-fits-all approach. Unfortunately, for decades, we have been using the same approach for different kinds of cancers due to a lack of technology. Although these treatments have saved millions of lives around the globe, they still have some limitations like side effects, recurrence, and eventually death in some cases. But now, with the advancement in technology, the treatment of cancer has become more personalised, which proved to be a breakthrough for cancer treatment.

Understanding Cancer

Cancer is a catastrophic disease, with thousands of people losing their lives due to this disease. It is recognised by uncontrolled cell division and the spreading of abnormal cells within the body. This growth eventually ends up becoming a tumour and disturbing other tissues and bodily functions. Causes of cancer include changes in genetic material called mutations that can vary from person to person depending upon his/her lifestyle and surrounding environment.

What is personalised medicine?

Personalised medicine is a modern approach in the healthcare industry that analyses genetic makeup, an individual’s lifestyle, and environmental factors to tailor a medical treatment for a certain individual. Concerning cancer treatment, personalised medicine uses molecular and genetic information about a patient’s tumour. By analysing these biomarkers, clinicians can select personalised and specific therapy for a certain person. This treatment has proved to be a tipping point in the field of cancer treatment. This approach has gained popularity worldwide in recent years.

The Purpose of Genetic Testing

Genetic testing in cancer treatment is the basis of personalised medicine for the selection of particular treatments according to a certain individual and the identification of biomarkers (Biomarkers are substances that indicate the presence of cancer in a cell). Tumours are not constant for different individuals, even with the same type of cancer. They can have unique genetic mutations for every individual that may affect how cancer cells grow, spread, and react to the treatment. With the help of modern technologies, it becomes easy for clinicians and oncologists to trace back these mutations and DNA altercations that cause cancer development.

Tailored Therapy: A Precise Approach

A promising development in treating personalised cancers is the invention of targeted therapies. Targeted therapies attack specific molecules or active pathways during the growth and survival of cancer cells, whereas chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cells more or less at random. These therapies are generally based on the tumour’s genetic profile and will target a more precise attack on cancer cells and spare healthy cells. Different therapies and detection techniques have evolved over the years to work on the principle of this approach. Some of them are as follows:

Immunotherapy: Leveraging the Immune System

An innovative parameter developed in personalised medicine for cancer therapy is the advancement of immunotherapy to stimulate the human body’s immune system further to fight cancer cells. Immunotherapy drugs work by blocking proteins that serve to stop immune cells from engaging in attacks on cancer cells. Certain cancers even find means to escape the immune system by expressing proteins with an impact to suppress the immune response. Some drugs have successfully blocked these proteins, allowing the immune system to identify and eliminate the cancer.

Liquid Biopsy: Early Detection

One of the biggest breakthroughs in the detection of cancer is the innovation of Biopsy. Liquid Biopsy is the subset of biopsy, where clinicians use the blood and body fluid of the patient for early detection of cancer with minimal invasion. It helps in understanding the pattern of genetic mutation.

Conclusion

Personalised medicine is a new shift from the former generalised one-size-fits-all approach to the more targeted approach, that is, to an individualised approach in cancer treatment. Indeed, through genetic testing, biomarkers, and novel therapies such as targeted and immunotherapy treatments, personalised medicine makes such treatments of cancers more precise, effective, and safe. And though challenges still prevail, an evolutionary personalisation of cancers promises to make their treatment more specific, accessible, and successful than ever.

Dr Vijay A