The medical community has recognized the importance of molecular diagnostics for several decades, and this field is especially important to cancer care. Molecular diagnostics has already improved cancer diagnosis and treatment techniques for some cancers, and research is continuing on others.

Potential uses of molecular diagnostics:

Image courtesy of Diagno Cure

The image above shows the many areas in which molecular diagnostics may be used. This spans the entire scope of cancer care, beginning with risk assessment and moving through to surveillance after diagnosis and treatment.

Clinical implementation of molecular diagnostics

Even though the incidence of cancer and the number of cancer deaths remain high, novel cancer molecular diagnostics are allowing physicians and pathologists to diagnose cancers more accurately, identify subgroups, and select targeted and individualized treatment regimens.

Although the traditional pathological examination of cancer remains an essential clinical tool, newer technologies such as microarrays, RT-PCR, mass spectrometric proteomic analyses, and protein chips are being used more often, although not yet routinely used everywhere or for all cancer types.

By evaluating patterns and changes in genes, researchers have discovered that cancers named according to the organ in which the cancerous cells reside are in fact many different types of cancer.

Studies have shown that what had been considered a single type of cancer based on how the cells appear under a microscope, can be two, three, or even more subtypes, each with a distinct molecular signature (expression) pattern. This may mean that each subtype needs to be treated differently.

Using microarrays, researchers discovered that the most common type of lung cancer, called lung adenocarcinoma, is actually several distinct types of cancer, each with its own gene signature pattern. Having the ability to distinguish these signatures is crucial information, as each responds most effectively to different treatments.

As you can see from the image above, a gene chip can identify distinct types of lung cancer. This may explain why in the past some lung cancer patients responded to a specific treatment while others did not. One drug does not fit all.

Pharmacogenetics is a science that examines the inherited variations in genes that determine drug metabolism and response.3

Using this strategy will help to identify which patients will not benefit from a specific medication and/or who are at risk for serious drug reactions, providing crucial information on proper treatment for each individual.