GENOMIC ONCOLOGY

Genomic Oncology is a personalized approach to treating cancer based on a patient’s individual genetic makeup. Genomic sequencing, a process used to determine the genetic makeup of a patient’s cancer, may reveal that medications not conventionally used for cancer can effectively treat cancer. While traditional methods treat cancer by disease type, precision medicine looks at specific cancer-associated genes in cells and then targets the vulnerable point of the tumor, or the genetic drivers that cause cancer. Therapies are matched to pinpoint and destroy specific genetic abnormalities and mutations in a patient’s tumor, while sparing normal cells.