Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that targets a specific change in some cancers that helps them grow, divide, and spread. Targeted drugs are designed to block cancer growth “driven” by these changes to the tumor’s gene. Doctors decide to use a targeted therapy based on the findings of biomarker tests, including mutation testing of your tumor. Watch this 10-minute guide to learn more about targeted therapies and how they are being used to treat cancer patients. This is the fourth guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Biomarker testing helps your doctor understand what is unique about you and your cancer on a molecular level. A biomarker is a molecule in your body that your doctors can measure to tell them something specific about you and your cancer. Biomarkers can let doctors know if your tumor has a good chance of responding to a certain treatment. Watch this 9-minute guide to learn more about biomarker testing and how it is being used to diagnose and treat cancer patients. This is the third guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Genes – which make up your DNA – are molecules inside your cells that you inherited from your birth parents. Sometimes genes are inherited with changes in the DNA, called mutations. Very small changes in the DNA can sometimes cause large issues like cancer. Some inherited mutations can raise a person’s cancer risk later in life. Watch this 6-minute guide to learn more about inherited genetic mutations and how testing for these mutations can help to prevent and diagnosis cancer. This is the second guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
Precision medicine takes into account how different each person’s environment, lifestyle, and genes are from one another. The goal of precision medicine is to create a treatment plan according to the “precise” molecular aspects of each patient’s cancer. Treatments can be developed for groups of patients whose cancers all share a specific type of gene or protein. Watch this 8-minute guide to learn more about precision medicine and how it is being used to treat cancer patients. This is the first guide in the Precision Medicine eLearning series.
