Personalized medicine in cancer patients

Personalized cancer therapy tailors treatments to individual patients based on unique cancer characteristics, revolutionizing modern medicine. Research into cancer biology has identified various cellular and molecular mechanisms, offering potential drug targets. Imatinib, targeting the BCR-ABL fusion protein in chronic myelogenous leukemia, exemplifies successful personalized therapy with high efficacy and low toxicity. Other FDA-approved targeted therapies, like Vemurafenib and Cetuximab, highlight progress in this field.
However, many promising drugs have faltered due to the lack of diagnostics for patient stratification and treatment monitoring. Tissue biopsies, the current standard, are invasive, costly, and prone to sample bias. Liquid biopsies, utilizing body fluids like plasma and urine, offer a non-invasive alternative for real-time monitoring and treatment response. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA), and extracellular vesicles (EVs) show promise as liquid biopsy sources.
EVs, including exosomes and microvesicles, serve as diagnostic and prognostic markers for various cancers, aiding in early detection and treatment monitoring. For instance, specific EV markers correlate with pancreatic and lung cancer, facilitating early detection and treatment monitoring. EV liquid biopsies, less invasive and providing real-time information, enable adaptive medicine approaches, modifying treatment plans based on real-time monitoring to optimize cancer therapy.