Here’s an honest question: Unless you work in an academic or industry laboratory, what is the use of knowing the genetic mutation responsible for a cancer? For almost every known cancer mutation, there is no drug to match it with.
Cancer genomics matters because of what the information tells us about this disease.
Years from now, it might be that when someone develops cancer, their doctor/biologist will sequence the tumor and offer up the diagnosis, not of colorectal cancer, but of an APC/KRAS/PIK3CA malignancy. A triple-combination regimen will be prescribed, pills that the patient can take at home. Every three months or so, the patient will return to get the tumor scanned again, and treatment will be altered according to what mutations are now present.
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Read the full, original story here: What’s the Point of Finding Cancer Mutations?
