2.2 Summary

summary

How did the identification of genes and mutations have applicability to human cancers?

Retroviruses were studied in the 1970s and 1980s, and these studies demonstrated how a constellation of genes was causing cancer (this research was done before we had today’s technology which can analyze all genes).
Genes make proteins that sit as receptors and send out signals that encode proteins that transfer information.
Detection of genes and mutations today has made possible the identification of treatments for various cancers.
Through genetic (germline) testing and genomic testing of tissue from the cancer tumor, genes can identify the unique molecular information that makes up a person’s cancer: this is precision medicine.
Every cancer is different at the genomic level.
Through application of precision medicine, the doctor has more information about the genetic and molecular makeup of a patient’s cancer.
Using genetic and molecular information, the doctor has the opportunity to select a potential treatment that will work best for specific patients’ cancers.
As more mutations become known in cancerous tumors, scientists can develop new drugs and therapies in response to those mutations.
Mutations vary by cancer and present complex challenges; for example, which mutation is driving the cancer and which are only passenger genes.
Humans experience changes in mutations over their lifetimes.
In some cancers such as lung cancer, precision medicine has produced different treatments that put the patient’s cancer into remission; however, maintaining remission is a problem.