Prediction of response in chemotherapy and molecular targeted therapy using pharmacogenetics and positron emission tomography. |
Hee Seung Kim, Jae Weon Kim |
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. kjwksh@snu.ac.kr |
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Abstract |
Standard treatment of cancer is composed of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Although the standard treatment has been available till now, there has been no marked decrease in the incidence of cancer and cancer-related death till now. This fact demonstrates the limitation of the standard treatment for overcoming cancer. Predictive oncology is defined as the method that can identify the difference in drug response and toxicity before treatment, which has developed in the fields of chemotherapy and molecular targeted therapy. Especially, pharmacogenetics and positron emission tomography (PET) are important in predictive oncology. The former shows that drug metabolism affecting response and toxicity may be affected by genetic predisposition, especially genetic polymorphism. The latter evaluates response by use of PET after 1-2 cycle administration of drug and differentiates responders from non-responders among patients with breast, esophagus, lung and rectal cancers. In the near future, individualized treatment that is more effective than the standard treatment will be developed through predictive oncology and be applied in cancer patients for maximizing drug response and minimizing toxicities. |
Key Words:
Pharmacogenetics, Positron emission tomography, Chemotherapy |
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