Musings on genome medicine: cancer genetics and the promise of effective treatment.
Cancer is the most common acquired genetic disease. Great progress has been made in documenting the genetic abnormalities that cause the disease, and in the future each tumor will be subjected to genetic analysis and the appropriate combination of drugs selected. Although there are serious technological and cost hurdles to surmount and resistance and continued mutation will be a constant problem, the way is clear to rational therapy.
Nathan
David G
DG
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA. david_nathan@dfci.harvard.edu.
Orkin
Stuart H
SH