Cancer communications for the development of personalized medicine

Abstract

Keeping in view the need for corporate communications in cancer research perspective, which means communications serves as the liaison between an organization and public. This editorial presents a view which is very different from commercial-marketing a product or laisoning with producer companies etc. It is all about developments in cancer research which leads one to understand - what is personalized medicine. As the scientific and medical communities begin to decipher the secrets locked in the human genome code, the way we approach the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease will change dramatically. With the detection of human genome, scientists have already created large databases filled with thousands of single nucleotide sequence changes. Some of these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) could define the genetic basis of what keeps healthy or makes us sick. Currently the most common applications for SNP related research tools are gene-disease association studies, drug-gene interactions and drug target validation. Other popular applications are disease susceptibility studies or diagnostics, pharmacogenomic studies for clinical trials, drug target screening, and new technology development.