Personalized medicine: risk prediction, targeted therapies and mobile health technology

Abstract

Personalized medicine is increasingly being employed across many areas of clinical practice, as genes associated with specific diseases are discovered and targeted therapies are developed. Mobile apps are also beginning to be used in medicine with the aim of providing a personalized approach to disease management. In some areas of medicine, patient-tailored risk prediction and treatment are applied routinely in the clinic, whereas in other fields, more work is required to translate scientific advances into individualized treatment. In this forum article, we asked specialists in oncology, neurology, endocrinology and mobile health technology to discuss where we are in terms of personalized medicine, and address their visions for the future and the challenges that remain in their respective fields.

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Daniel F Hayes is the Stuart B Padnos Professor of Breast Cancer Research and co-Director of the Breast Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research interests are in clinical and translational breast cancer research regarding new drug development, clinical trials and the development of biomarkers. Dr Hayes and colleagues published the first reports concerning the development of the CA15-3 blood test, used to evaluate patients with breast cancer. He has expertise in the use of this and other tumor markers, such as HER-2, circulating tumor cells and pharmacogenomics.

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Hugh S Markus is a Professor of Stroke Medicine and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the University of Cambridge. He specializes in care of patients with stroke. He runs a specialist clinic for patients with genetic causes of stroke, including cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL). His research interests are in using genetic and imaging techniques to investigate the pathogenesis of stroke.

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David Leslie is consultant physician at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Professor of Diabetes and Autoimmunity at the Blizard Institute, University of London. His research involves studies using major patient resources (such as patients with adult-onset autoimmune disease and twins with diabetes), allied to cell and molecular studies.

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Eric J Topol is the Director and Professor of Genomics at Scripps Translational Science Institute, co-Founder of the West Wireless Health Institute, and serves as Chief Academic Officer of Scripps Health. He is a practicing cardiologist, having led many worldwide clinical trials to advance care for patients with heart disease, and works on genomic and wireless digital innovative technologies to shape the future of individualized medicine.