Health comment

I’VE always liked the idea of precision medicine – bespoke, made-to-measure treatments. You just know that’s going to be better than off-the-shelf options such as chemotherapy, right? But what does it really mean...

Well, at the heart of the approach is the fact that cancer cells have their own genetic code. Although a tumour grows from our own tissue, its genes are different from our own, due to DNA mutations.

It has long been known that cancer isn’t one disease, but many. Breast cancer is different to lung cancer, which is different to prostate cancer, and so on.

But now it is clear that even within a single type of cancer there are scores of genetic variations. And doctors are becoming better at telling them apart. This knowledge has led to an array of medications that target specific weaknesses in each type of cancer.

Some prime the body’s own immune system to seek and destroy the disease or act as Trojan horses, breaking into tumour cells and causing them to self-destruct. Other drugs inhibit the mechanisms that cause tumour cells to divide. These can work alone or in combination, meaning a wealth of treatment possibilities.

Specialists can choose the right treatment for the right patient. Surgery, chemo, radiotherapy and hormone drug treatments are still the mainstay. But one study announced last week suggested that patients given molecular profiling for their cancer had up to six times the chance of still being alive ten years later than those who didn’t. It’s hugely encouraging, and proof that thanks to the tireless efforts of medical science, we are coming closer to conquering this killer.