Wolfgang,
>> Either you know the tumor and get tissue by biopsy...When knowing the exact damage of individual p53 gene, you do not have the corresponding gene therapy yet.<<
At the risk of offending the oncologists on this thread, IMO the tumor is typically not truly known. Historically (and this is admittedly a simplification), tumors are classified by their location and by their gross or cellular morphologies. Yet tumors which by name are the same, respond very differently to current therapies.
IMHO, one of the fantastic promises of technologies such as the GeneChip is that as involved genes are identified this technology should allow us to identify an individual patient's cancer's genetic make-up, in effect to truly identify the cancer. With this knowledge, we will be able to treat tumor genotypes, rather than phenotypes, and IMO will rapidly learn which therapies are effective against which genotypes
Thus, IMO the usefulness of this "gene-identification" technology will be proven in the clinic independent of gene therapy.
biowa |
