In a follow-up to a previous segment on advancements in treating pediatric cancer, PBS NewsHour takes a closer look at how researchers are managing the disease in adults by tailoring patients' treatments and attacking its genetic underpinnings. The latest report examines how having a better understanding of the molecular nature of cancer has helped researchers boost cancer survival rates and has sparked a new age in treating the disease.
As UC Davis Cancer Center researcher David R. Gandara, MD, explains in the segment:
One person's [individual molecular] fingerprint is different from another's. And if a doctor then can use that information to personalize treatment for that patient, so that they get the best chance of getting a remission or a cure from their cancer, then that's really an advance. And so it may be that, at the end of the day, we cure cancer one patient at a time.
Previously: Mathematical technique used to identify bladder cancer marker, A look at the dramatic improvement in pediatric cancer survival rates, Cancer's next stage: A report from Stanford Medicine magazine and Team completes genomic analysis of prostate cancer
