Amidst the long and tedious process of prevention, diagnosis and treatment which is often not successful, there could be a much shorter and more precise escape. Even though, the traditional ways of medicine treat the majority of patients, the often huge majority go unaccounted for. That minority could be the person sitting next to you, your friend or maybe even you, which makes the facts even more daunting.
However, the possibility of personalised medicine, individual to every patient, could be the answer. Despite the genomic difference between humans being less than 1%, it can give rise to almost 665 million genetic variations. This is a perfect portrayal of how different each patient is and so undoubtedly demands unique treatments for them, rather than just brushing every patient issues from the same body part or the same stage of illness under the same rug - generalising them makes the treatment much less effective.
Particularly, in the case of tackling cancer, biopsies can be considered where we compare mutations in genes, anti-cancer drugs and drug combinations to specifically target the cancer for an individual patent. Furthermore, these samples can be examined and observed to see how the cancerous cells respond to different drug treatments and combinations.
Immunotherapy is one procedure where the patient s immune system is strengthened through various immunostimulants. This allows recognition of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes which are capable of identifying genetic defects in tumors. Previously, the immune system would have been unable to target cancer cells as they were able to hide or disrupt signals generated by components of the immune system.
An example are the BRAF checkpoint inhibitors which are used to kill the tumor cells as part of a cancer treatment. These cancerous cells can be produced by BRAF mutants which accelerate conversion of ATP to ADP hence resulting in excess proliferation.
Moreover, biosensors and biomarkers are being developed and tested on volunteers to detect any fluctuations in the body by checking various statistics and running tests such as echocardiograms (ECGs) and oxygen concentrations so that a possible illness can have its treatment completed even before it could previously have been picked up after the symptoms would have appeared.
Some ideas are still under development whereas others are currently in use. However, various exciting concepts include toilets which check urine and stool for the presence of any disease and mirrors which can measure vitals with radar or maybe even toothbrushes which can analyse saliva. Furthermore, an even more exhilarating proposition are the contact lenses which might be able to check pressure and glucose levels in the eye. Such activities will allow a constant comparison with the rest of the population to ensure no fluctuations are abnormal or dangerous, allowing medical issue to be solved before they can escalate and providing us more control over our bodies.
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Reference:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/01/personalized-medicine-transforming-your-health-care/
