The traditional pattern of tumor profiling for a single gene mutation in cancer involves multiple tests, each targeting a single gene and revealing only a little about what is happening within the tumor, and can lead to a possibility of personalised therapies. This strategy is successful when it leads to innovation and improves standard of care.
A time has come when there is a need of complete paradigm shift in cancer care by adopting ‘Next Generation Sequencing Technologies’ to add a differentiation in cancer classification and patient stratification and understand an individual patient’s response to targeted therapies. This will enable physicians to go beyond the one-size-fits-all model of medicine to make the most effective clinical decisions for each patient.
Next Generation Sequencing Technologies will support multiple physicians with the most accurate and advanced tumor profiling of multi gene “actionable”mutations, specifically designed to identify targeted therapies. These tests using next generation sequencing will be offered throughout India and other geographies including Africa and South East Asia, to aggregate additional information on emerging cancerbiomarkers in recent clinical studies for more personalized therapy decisions.
The benefits that the patients will derive from these tests are the following:
- This new model of personalized medicine will break the cycle of ‘trial and error medicine, and link the test to personalised and evidence based therapy/ treatment plan.
- Using genomic markers for chemo-sensitivity/ chemo-resistance may dramatically improve response rates to chemotherapy, significantly impacting the risk–benefit ratio for these patients.
The tests will also help to detect the hereditary cancer : examples include testing for mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 in unaffected women to identify those at significantly elevated risk for developing Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Colon Cancer, Thyroid Cancer and other cancers. A potential tool for screening patients with newly diagnosed cancers and their family members for risk predisposition to reduce morbidity and mortality.
To know more consult a Medical Oncologist at any of HCG Cancer Centres in India and Kenya.