Evaluation of personalized medicine as possible therapeutical approach in oncology

Abstract

[eng] Different types of cancers can be quite heterogenous from a molecular point of view but have been treated with similar chemotherapeutical drugs in the past. Such classical chemotherapy may cause damage to both tumoral and healthy cells, because its molecular mechanism, intercalation between the two strands of the DNA, does not distinguish between these cells. Recent advances in technology have been the key to initiate a novel therapeutical approach called personalized medicine, which tries to take the genetic and molecular differences of each patient into account. In this bachelor thesis PubMed has been the primary source of information to evaluate the possible use of this novel approach in oncology. As a result, various promising strategies could be found such as pharmacogenomics, targeted drugs (receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors), monoclonal antibody and Chimeric Antigen Receptor of T cell treatment. In addition, an estimate of the economic impact on Public Health Systems and the possibility to implement personalized medicine has been realized. Although a solid conclusion could no be achieved, some unexpected concepts have been found, for example that the creation of Big Data based on molecular screening of cancer samples may be the key not only to establish an effective and side effect free treatment for every patient but also to lower the general costs and to successfully implement personalized medicine.