[Personalized medicine: expectations, disappointments and hopes]

Impressive advances in the studies of human genome, identification of mutant genes of hereditary diseases and candidate genes of many chronic multifactorial diseases (MFD) laid the foundation of molecular medicine. Its characteristic features, such as the focus on individual prophylactic care, give reason to consider it as personalized predictive medicine (PPM). The fundamental concept behind PPM comprises the notion of genetic passport and its methodological basis is genetic testing (GT). Recent progress in PPM has been achieved due to the introduction of comprehensive genomic screening of associations. At the same time, the contribution of known individual genes to the development of MFD appears to be relatively insignificant which does not allow to identify the main causes of MFD. It gave rise to some scepsis as regards the value of genome as a source of information for practical medicine. Possibilities for the improvement of GT and conditions for the introduction of the available data into clinical practice are discussed. The necessity to attract clinicians to the work on PPM is emphasized. The development of unified MFD gene panels for clinical application and software for the evaluation and interpretation of GT results for doctors and patients is an indispensable condition for the use of PPM knowledge in the healthcare practice. The importance of solution of relevant ethical, juridical, and social issues is underscored.