Genomic profiling can guide treatment of pediatric brain tumors

Harvard: Precision medicine—in which diagnosis and treatments are keyed to the genetic susceptibilities of individual cancers—has advanced to the point where it can now impact the care of a majority of children with brain tumors, a new study by investigators at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center suggests. In the largest clinical study to date of genetic abnormalities in pediatric brain tumors, researchers performed clinical testing on more than 200 tumor samples and found that a majority had genetic irregularities that could influence how the disease was diagnosed and/or treated with approved drugs or agents being evaluated in clinical trials.

Baby Love Motivates Quest for Knowledge

ClinicalOmics: Earlier this year, the Obama Administration launched the Precision Medicine Initiative with a $215 million investment in the President’s 2016 Budget. Heralded as a bold new research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease, the Precision Medicine Initiative is intended to pioneer a new model of patient-powered research to accelerate biomedical discoveries and provide clinicians with new tools, knowledge, and therapies. Supporting the concept of precision medicine, preconception carrier screening predicts the chances of having a child with specific genetic disorders while diagnostic testing determines the cause of pediatric-onset and other genetic disorders. Families can be started in both traditional and nontraditional ways; preconception carrier screening provides the information needed for prospective parents to figure out their preferred direction before conception. Counsyl provides screening for diseases where advanced knowledge makes a difference in health outcomes, whether it is changing a behavior, pursuing preventive measures, or simply preparing for what lies ahead.

Experts share five things you should know about precision medicine

Dana Farber. US: President Barack Obama is requesting an increase of $215 million in the 2016 federal budget to launch the Precision Medicine Initiative. This boost in funding for research will give genetic causes of cancer a national focus specifically around precision or “personalized” treatments for cancer in the future.
Here are some facts about precision medicine:

A New Way to Fight Cancer? It May Be in Our DNA. Precision Medicine Program Launched at Comprehensive Cancer Center

Wake Forest. US: After a year in development, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today announced a new Precision Medicine program at its National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.  Precision medicine was introduced to the nation during President Obama’s State of the Union address in January. He called the novel therapy “a bold new effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease.” Precision medicine uses a person’s unique genetic makeup to develop an individualized treatment plan that targets cancer cells.