Understanding distinctive features of a patient's cancer
Cancer is not a single disease, but a whole range of related conditions that have different root causes and show a variety of responses to different treatments.
If a patient’s prostate cancer is caused by a genetic defect affecting ‘protein A’ and another patient’s prostate cancer is caused by a different genetic fault affecting ‘protein B’ then it is unlikely that the same treatment will work for both of them.
New techniques, based on a better understanding of the distinctive features of an individual patient’s cancer, allow us to understand the underlying causes of different types of cancer and to predict how a tumour will develop and respond to specific treatments.
Through this World questions campaign we will pioneer greater personalisation in cancer care, targeting drugs where they will be most effective and opening up therapeutic possibilities for patient groups for whom there are currently few options.
King's Integrated Cancer Centre website