| | MAY 2024 8UTLOOKHealthcare Tech IN MY OPINIONBy Valsamo Anagnostou, Co-Director, Thoracic Oncology Precision Medicine Center of Excellence, The Johns Hopkins University School of MedicinePrecision Oncology Initiatives to Catalyze Personalized Cancer CarePrecision medicine is getting the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, however identifying the most effective cancer treatment can often be a complex and timely process. While the number of approved therapies constantly increases, the efficacy of each therapy varies from patient to patient and this is in-part attributed to the unique genetic make-up of each cancer. To this end, understanding each cancer's molecular profile is a key first step to identify tailored treatments and ensure that patients receive potentially life-saving therapies. The field of precision oncology is evolving rapidly because of advances in molecular testing, that includes laboratory techniques to identify changes in the genetic make-up (or DNA) of the cancer, or in the molecules that carry and translate the instructions held in the DNA (we call this RNA) or in the levels of proteins in the cancer cells. Next generation sequencing is a type of molecular testing that can pinpoint the genetic information in the patient's DNA and highlight changes in the DNA sequence or structure, that we call mutations. A number of treatments capitalize on the fact that cancers harbor mutations in key genes and the emergence of targeted or molecularly-tailored therapies has led to significant improvements in clinical outcomes and has prolonged survival for individuals with cancer.Nevertheless, the widespread use of molecular testing and next generation sequencing does not come without challenges. The interpretation of molecular testing of blood or tumor tissue can be complex and for some patients the key question of how Margaret GilmanValsamo Anagnostou
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