Genomics of AML: clinical applications of next-generation sequencing

In the past decade, a series of technological advances have revolutionized our ability to interrogate cancer genomes, culminating in whole-genome sequencing, which provides genome-wide coverage at a single base-pair resolution. As sequencing technologies improve and costs decrease, it is likely that whole-genome sequencing of cancer cells will become commonplace in the diagnostic workup of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and other cancers. The unprecedented molecular characterization provided by whole-genome sequencing offers the potential for an individualized approach to treatment in AML, bringing us one step closer to personalized medicine. In this chapter, we discuss how next-generation sequencing is being used to study cancer genomes. Recent publications of whole-genome sequencing in AML are reviewed and current limitations of whole-genome sequencing are examined, as well as current and potential future clinical applications of whole-genome sequencing.