Personalized Medicine 101

What is personalized medicine? Also known as precision medicine, personalized medicine is a particular type of medical care. Its foundation lies in the human genome, which is the complete sequenced set of nucleic acids that are encoded within DNA in 23 chromosomes in the cell´s nuclei, and a small DNA molecule molecule within individual mitochondria (the powerhouses of the cell). Even though one human´s DNA and another´s are 99.9% alike, that small difference, can change our risk for disease and affect the way we respond to treatment.

Hereby, personalized medicine is the practice of tailoring medical prevention and treatment to the those subtle, specific differences in each of us as human beings: our personal genetic

and molecular profiles. This precision can result in more successful treatment and save time that would otherwise be wasted in a more traditional empirical approach.

One of the most notable areas of its impact lies within oncology. Precision molecules and therapies have improved survival rates in breast cancer and ovarian cancer, to name a few. We will be looking more in depth at various examples in future posts.

Inevitably, personalized medicine is interlinked with technology and depends on the developments in other sciences - given its inter-disciplinary nature. Stakeholders in the development of these technologies include patients & consumers, health care providers, bio-pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic companies, academic researchers, IT/information companies, advocacy groups, and payors.

This has been but a brief introduction to personalized medicine. In future posts, we will dive deeper into specifics and examples of personalized medicine in action. Also, stay on the lookout for our series of posts on recent medical advances.

Kind Regards,

Jorge A Cevallos, MD