Precision medicine and its implementation in patients with NTRK fusion genes: perspective from developing countries
Author
Cardona, Andrés F.Arrieta, Oscar
Ruiz-Patiño, Alejandro
Sotelo, Carolina
Zamudio-Molano, Nataly
Zatarain-Barrón, Zyanya Lucia
Ricaurte, Luisa
Raez, Luis
Álvarez, Marco Polo Peralta
Barrón, Feliciano
Rojas, Leonardo
Rolfo, Christian
Karachaliou, Niki
Molina-Vila, Miguel Angel
Rosell, Rafael
Date
2020-07-09Journal
Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory DiseasePublisher
SAGE PublicationsType
Article
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Show full item recordAbstract
Precision oncology is the field that places emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of tumors that harbor specific genomic alterations susceptible to inhibition or modulation. Although most alterations are only present in a minority of patients, a substantial effect on survival can be observed in this subgroup. Mass genome sequencing has led to the identification of a specific driver in the translocations of the tropomyosin receptor kinase family (NTRK) in a subset of rare tumors both in children and in adults, and to the development and investigation of Larotrectinib. This medication was granted approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for NTRK-positive tumors, regardless of histology or age group, as such, larotrectinib was the first in its kind to be approved under the premise that molecular pattern is more important than histology in terms of therapeutic approach. It yielded significant results in disease control with good tolerability across a wide range of diseases including rare pediatric tumors, salivary gland tumors, gliomas, soft-tissue sarcomas, and thyroid carcinomas. In addition, and by taking different approaches in clinical trial design and conducting allocation based on biomarkers, the effects of target therapies can be isolated and quantified. Moreover, and considering developing nations and resource-limited settings, precision oncology could offer a tool to reduce cancer-related disability and hospital costs. In addition, developing nations also present patients with rare tumors that lack a chance of treatment, outside of clinical trials. This, in turn, offers the possibility for international collaboration, and contributes to employment, education, and health service provisions. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section. © The Author(s), 2020.Identifier to cite or link to this item
http://hdl.handle.net/10713/13402ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/1753466620938553
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/