Personalised Cancer Medicine

This, the first of two volumes on personalized medicine in lung cancer, touches on the core issues related to the understanding of lung cancer—statistics and epidemiology of lung cancer—along with the incidence of lung cancer in non-smokers. A major focus of this volume is the state of current therapies against lung cancer—immune, targeted therapies against EGFR TKIs, KRAS, ALK, angiogenesis; the associated challenges, especially resistance mechanisms; and recent progress in targeted drug development based on metal chemistry. Chapters are written by some of the leading experts in the field, who provide a better understanding of lung cancer, the factors that make it lethal, and current research focused on developing personalized treatment plans. With a unique mix of topics, this volume summarizes the current state-of-knowledge on lung cancer and the available therapies.

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.

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.

In recent times, the phrase ’personalised medicine’ has become the symbol of medical progress and a label for better health care in the future. However, a controversial debate has developed around whether these promises of better, more personal and more cost-efficient medicine are realistic. This book brings together leading researchers from across Europe and North America, from both normative and empirical disciplines, who take a more critical view of the often encountered hype associated with personalised medicine. Partially drawing on a four year collaborative research project funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research, the book presents a multidisciplinary debate on the current state of research on the ethical, legal and social implications of personalised medicine. At a time when future health care is a topic of much discussion, this book provides valuable policy recommendations for the way forward. This study will be of interest to researchers from various disciplines including philosophy, bioethics, law and social sciences.

This book provides a unique perspective on the biomedical and societal implications of personalized medicine and how it helps to mitigate the healthcare crisis and rein in ever-growing expenditure. It introduces the reader to the underlying concepts at the heart of personalized medicine. An innovative second edition, this book functions as an update to the successful first edition to include new, state-of-the-art information and advancements in the fast-paced field of personalized medicine. Chapters examine pharmacogenomics, targeted therapies, individualized diagnosis and treatment, and cancer immunotherapies. The book also features an essential discussion on how the advent of genomic technologies gives clinicians the capability to predict and diagnose disease more efficiently and offers a detailed up-to-date compilation of clinical trials in cancer leading to breakthrough therapies. The book also addresses the impact of Big Data on personalized medicine and the newfound applications of digital health and artificial intelligence. A work that advocates for a patient-centered approach, Advancing Healthcare Through Personalized Medicine, Second Edition is an invaluable text for clinicians, healthcare providers, and patients.

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.

The role of molecular genetics in the treatment of malignancy continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Today’s subspecialized multidisciplinary approach to oncology has incorporated advances in targeted molecular therapy, prognosis, risk assessment, and prevention—all based at least in part on molecular diagnostics and imaging. Inside this cutting-edge resource, readers will explore broad, comprehensive perspectives on the current trends in molecular diagnosis of cancer and personalized cancer medicine. Authoritative discussions share insights from noted experts in cancer research, clinical trials, molecular diagnostics, personalized therapy, bioinformatics, and federal regulations. From the basic mechanisms of carcinogenesis to the most advanced molecular screening, staging, and treatment technologies, readers will discover clear and straightforward discussions directly relevant to patient diagnosis and care.