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Updated: Jul 10, 2025

Integration of Wet and Dry Bench Processes Optimizes Targeted Next-generation Sequencing of Low-quality and Low-quantity Tumor Biopsies
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Molecular diagnostics tailoring personalized cancer therapy-an oncologist's view

Jakob M Riedl1, Florian Moik1, Tamara Esterl1

  • 1Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.

Virchows Archiv : an International Journal of Pathology
|November 20, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Precision oncology offers personalized cancer treatments by targeting specific genetic alterations. Overcoming challenges in clinical relevancy, heterogeneity, and implementation is key to expanding patient benefits from this evolving field.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Genetics
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Personalized medicine and targeted therapies are transforming medical oncology.
  • Molecular diagnostics and understanding cancer pathophysiology identify genetic alterations driving cancer.
  • Drug development now allows direct interference with specific molecular pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the current status of cancer-agnostic precision oncology.
  • To discuss molecular tumor boards and limitations of personalized cancer therapy.
  • To provide an outlook on future developments in precision oncology.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current literature on precision oncology.
  • Discussion of challenges in clinical implementation and molecular interpretation.
  • Exploration of future directions such as functional assessments and liquid biopsies.

Main Results:

  • Precision oncology represents a paradigm shift towards molecularly targeted, cancer-type agnostic therapies.
  • Significant hurdles remain, including assessing clinical relevance, managing tumor heterogeneity, and practical implementation.
  • Future developments may involve functional assessments and liquid biopsies for comprehensive genetic information.

Conclusions:

  • Precision oncology holds great promise but requires addressing key limitations for broader patient benefit.
  • Molecular tumor boards and advanced diagnostics like liquid biopsies are crucial for advancing personalized cancer care.
  • Continued research into functional assessments and longitudinal monitoring will refine personalized cancer therapy.
Keywords:
CancerMolecular oncologyPersonalized treatmentPrecision oncologyTargeted therapy

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