How can systems pathology help us personalize cancer therapy?
Cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease which changes over time, and in the face of therapeutic intervention. Single tissue biomarkers, while partially successful in helping us understand which patients will respond to therapy, cannot hope to capture this amazing complexity. Systems pathology, which combines measurements made on tissues with new mathematical modeling approaches, permits the testing of new agents and biomarkers in silico through computational analysis. These approaches help us to refine pathological measurements and improve decision making about therapies for clinical trial planning and ultimately personalized therapy.
Faratian
Dana
D
Division of Pathology and Edinburgh Breakthrough Research Unit, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom. d.faratian@ed.ac.uk
Langdon
Simon P
SP
Harrison
David J
DJ
D019295:Computational Biology; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000379:methods*; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods*