This article in The New York Times talks about how genome sequencing and its effects on cancer treatments. Right now, there is a surge in funding for programs to sequence genomes in cancer patients in order to provide a more thorough and accurate treatments to cure their cancer.
“There will be a moment in time when whole genome sequencing becomes ubiquitous throughout health care,” said Peter Tonellato, director of the Harvard personalized medicine lab and a clinical investigator in pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “Let’s say we figure out all the individuals who might have a cancer, and we can predict that with a relatively high level of accuracy. Then presumably we can take steps to avoid those, let’s say, decades of treatment.”
But there is much debate on how effective these genome sequences projects really are, based off what information can be learned from the sequences is so limited at this present moment in time.
“One of the most prominent downsides is you start chasing risks for a whole lot of disease you’ll never have, and generate a lot of cost for little benefits,” says Dr. Greene, who is part of a federally sponsored research project that is looking at the economic and medical impact of whole genome sequencing.
There is still much research that needs to be done on this, but the way the industry is pushing, progress is inevitable, although how much long time elapses before that happens remains unclear.
The push for genome sequencing in cancer patients seems to be a good idea. The genome sequencing will help researchers learn a lot more about cancer treatment and which genes cancer affects the most. Even if the programs do not directly lead to a cure for cancer, we will certainly learn much more about the disease and how to combat it effectively.
ReplyDelete