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A tumor's genetic makeup can vary significantly even within the same tumor sample, researchers said, a finding that poses new challenges to the personalized-medicine movement in cancer.
One big implication of the new research, being published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is that analyzing only a single sample of a patient's tumor—the current practice—may miss important genetic mutations that affect the course of the disease.
That, in turn, could hinder emerging efforts to match patients with drugs that target the mutations affecting their tumors, a basic strategy of personalized medicine.
The findings don't diminish enthusiasm for the idea that genetic knowledge about tumors can transform cancer care, the researchers said. But it could make personalized treatment more complex—and more costly.
"It's a sobering finding," said Andrew Futreal, a co-author of the study who until recently was director of cancer genetics and genomics at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in London.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Dan L. Longo, an editor at the journal, suggested the varied genetic makeup of tumors described in the study stands in contrast...
One big implication of the new research, being published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is that analyzing only a single sample of a patient's tumor—the current practice—may miss important genetic mutations that affect the course of the disease.
That, in turn, could hinder emerging efforts to match patients with drugs that target the mutations affecting their tumors, a basic strategy of personalized medicine.
The findings don't diminish enthusiasm for the idea that genetic knowledge about tumors can transform cancer care, the researchers said. But it could make personalized treatment more complex—and more costly.
"It's a sobering finding," said Andrew Futreal, a co-author of the study who until recently was director of cancer genetics and genomics at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in London.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Dan L. Longo, an editor at the journal, suggested the varied genetic makeup of tumors described in the study stands in contrast...