Customized Cancer Treatment

Customized Cancer Treatment is the first book for the layperson on chemosensitivity testing. This is a laboratory procedure by which patients and their doctors can discover which drugs are mostly like to work for them and which to avoid. Chemosensitivity testing is very effective at finding the best drugs for each individual. It is a form of personalized treatment. According to Dr. Robert Nagourney, No cancer patient should begin treatment without first reading this book.

Nowhere is the explosion in comprehensive genomic testing more evident than in oncology. Multiple consensus guidelines now recommend molecular testing as the standard of care for most metastatic tumors. To aid in the advancement of this rapidly changing field, we intend this Special Issue of JPM to focus on technical developments in the genomic profiling of cancer, detail promising somatic alterations that either are, or have a high likelihood of being, relevant in the near future, and to address issues related to the pricing and value of these tests. The last few years have seen the cost of molecular testing decrease by orders of magnitude. In 2018, we saw the first "site-agnostic" drug approvals in cancer (for microsatellite unstable cancer (PD-1 inhibitors) and NTRK-fusions (TRK inhibitors)). Research on targetable mutations, determination of genetic "signatures" that can use multiple individual genes/pathways, development of targeted therapy, and insight into the value of new technology remains at the cutting edge of research in this field. We are soliciting papers that present new technologies to assess predictive biomarkers in cancer, original research (pre-clinical or clinical) that demonstrates promise for particular targeted therapies in cancer, and articles that explore the clinical and financial impacts of this paradigmatic shift in cancer diagnostics and treatment.

Personalized cancer medicine studies human genes in different types of cancers. This field of medicine is helpful in designing more efficient treatments by utilising genetic information for developing different tests for cancer and the ways for preventing it. Standard cancer treatments are divided into four categories, which include chemotherapy, surgery, immunotherapy and radiation therapy. The patient's active participation is crucial to enhance the effectiveness of personalized medicines. It has fewer side effects than other forms of treatment, as it is designed to be more precise. A personalized treatment will not target the healthy cells and can have greater impact on cancer cells. Targeted therapy is one of the examples of personalized cancer medicine, which can be used to treat brain cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer and pancreatic cancer. This book explores all the important principles of personalized cancer medicine. It presents researches and studies performed by experts across the globe. This book is appropriate for students seeking detailed information in this area of medicine as well as for experts.

For this volume of Advances in Pharmacology we have brought together some of the foremost basic science and clinical researchers to discuss some of the new frontiers in the development of targeted cancer therapy. Although still in its formative stages, the development of targeted cancer therapies has already shown incredible promise in a limited number of cancer types. As basic cancer research and drug development continues, we expect this number to grow and more patients to benefit from these exciting advances. Through better patient selection and novel strategies to manage resistance, a future can be envisaged in which cancer can be reduced to the level of a chronic, manageable disease. Brought together some of the foremost basic science and clinical researchers Part of the renowned Advances in Pharmacology Serial Discussion of some of the new frontiers in the development of targeted cancer therapy

Personalized and precision medicine (PPM)—the targeting of therapies according to an individual’s genetic, environmental, or lifestyle characteristics—is becoming an increasingly important approach in health care treatment and prevention. The advancement of PPM is a challenge in traditional clinical, reimbursement, and regulatory landscapes because it is costly to develop and introduces a wide range of scientific, clinical, ethical, and socioeconomic issues. PPM raises a multitude of economic issues, including how information on accurate diagnosis and treatment success will be disseminated and who will bear the cost; changes to physician training to incorporate genetics, probability and statistics, and economic considerations; questions about whether the benefits of PPM will be confined to developed countries or will diffuse to emerging economies with less developed health care systems; the effects of patient heterogeneity on cost-effectiveness analysis; and opportunities for PPM’s growth beyond treatment of acute illness, such as prevention and reversal of chronic conditions. This volume explores the intersection of the scientific, clinical, and economic factors affecting the development of PPM, including its effects on the drug pipeline, on reimbursement of PPM diagnostics and treatments, and on funding of the requisite underlying research; and it examines recent empirical applications of PPM.

This book presents the latest advances in precision medicine in some of the most common cancer types, including hematological, lung and breast malignancies. It also discusses emerging technologies that are making a significant impact on precision medicine in cancer therapy. In addition to describing specific approaches that have already entered clinical practice, the book explores new concepts and tools that are being developed. Precision medicine aims to deliver personalized healthcare tailored to a patient’s genetics, lifestyle and environment, and cancer therapy is one of the areas in which it has flourished in recent years. Documenting the latest advances, this book is of interest to physicians and clinical fellows in the front line of the war on cancer, as well as to basic scientists working in the fields of cancer biology, drug development, biomarker discovery, and biomedical engineering. The contributing authors include translational physicians with first-hand experience in precision patient care.

This book covers almost all fields of cancer genetics and genomics for personalized medicine. Targeted therapy, or precision medicine, or personalized medicine is becoming a standard treatment for many diseases, including cancer. However, how much do we know about the personalized medicine approach? This lucid book helps undergraduate and graduate students, professional researchers, and clinicians to better understand the key concept of personalized medicine. The most up-to-date topics on personalized medicine in this book cover the recent trends in and updates on lung, gastric, liver, breast, and other types of cancers. Circulating tumor cell, cell-free circulating DNA, and microRNAs are discussed as new diagnostic and prognostic markers for cancer. The avatar mouse model is also discussed for maximizing treatment efficacy and prognosis prediction, and so is microenvironment as a drug resistance mechanism. With classical and new pathological approaches, the book provides a systemic overview of personalized immunotherapies and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, followed by new emerging fields of hereditary cancer, thereby equipping readers to eventually contribute in developing more advanced tools and therapies for curing cancer.

This open access volume focuses on the development of a P5 eHealth, or better, a methodological resource for developing the health technologies of the future, based on patients’ personal characteristics and needs as the fundamental guidelines for design. It provides practical guidelines and evidence based examples on how to design, implement, use and elevate new technologies for healthcare to support the management of incurable, chronic conditions. The volume further discusses the criticalities of eHealth, why it is difficult to employ eHealth from an organizational point of view or why patients do not always accept the technology, and how eHealth interventions can be improved in the future. By dealing with the state-of-the-art in eHealth technologies, this volume is of great interest to researchers in the field of physical and mental healthcare, psychologists, stakeholders and policymakers as well as technology developers working in the healthcare sector.