Abstract: Systems biology is the new branch of biology which is developed recently as a result of the Human Genome Project. It helps in decoding the various systems in biology by studying different genes, proteins and pathways and ultimately making their computerized models to learn how they react differently to different drugs. So, by studying systems we can design medicines for individuals according to their susceptibility rate and response time to different drugs. In near future, personalized medicine will create novel therapeutics by combining various drugs according to individual optimization [1]. Together, systems biology and individualized medicine will focus on each individual rather than on the concept based on “one size fits all”. They focus more on health rather than illness which is a plus point for curing various deadly diseases such as …show more content…
cancer. The tools and technologies provided by system biology offer new opportunities to utilize new areas of personalized medicine [2]. In this research paper, we will discuss how personalized medicine helps in curing various types of cancers by studying individuals systems. Keywords: Systems Biology, Personalized Medicine, Cancer, Biomarkers, P4. Introduction: Living systems are very complex and dynamic, so to understand their mechanisms a new field has emerged which is known as “Systems Biology”.
Systems biology helps in exploring the various mechanisms of systems by studying the interaction of components using various technologies such as bioinformatics, genomics and high throughput sequencing. As, lot of new diseases are emerging nowadays in different parts of the body, so to overcome them, advanced use of “Personalized Medicine” is done [3]. Personalized Medicine is different from the medicine today as former is prescribed according to one’s genetic profile and content. As never done before, personalized health care can detect the onset of disease at its earliest stage and at the same time can increase the efficiency of the health care system by improving quality, accessibility, and affordability. The completion of Human Genome Project (HGP) have led to the various benefits to the patients by providing biological insights and allowing the physicians to select customize treatments for patients which can greatly increase their chances of survival
[4]. As said by Brook Byers from Kleiner Perlins Caufield & Byers “Personalized medicine is our chance to revolutionize health care, but it will require a team effort by innovators, entrepreneurs, regulators, payers, and policymakers.” The demand for better medicine and health care system, make it necessary to encourage the development and adoption of personalized medicine. It is essential to have payment policies, regulatory guidelines and basic coverage to encourage continued investment in new personalized diagnostics. And professional education must be upto date to prepare the next generation health care professionals to deal with personalized medicine. Personalized Medicine has great prospective to introduce new scientific medical models. Division of populations into groups of patients can help in the treatment as patients from same group will have more likelihood of responding to a particular treatment and from this patients can benefit from improvised drugs as well as new diagnostic tools. Understanding of systems biology and personalized medicine has created the breakthrough in diagnosing various types of cancer, as cancer is the most deadly disease and everyday new types of cancers are detected worldwide. Researchers are trying to decode the human genome as all people are unique and so their diseases and these types of approaches can give more detailed information to healthcare professionals for better treatment. This is an important aspect as person who is having cancer and often do not shows any sign of illness for a long time. Decoding approach gives the information regarding biological indicators which give the information even before the person feels sick or symptoms start emerging. Future and Present Aspects of Personalized Medicine: Although Personalized medicine is recently known by public, but differences in individual traits has been studied by physicians in past too. Four theory is an example which was used by Hippocrates to diagnose and prescribe therapy for individual patients. Despite learning about the differences in genetic content of patients, still our medicine is based on model “one size fits all” which means patients having same kind of symptom are prescribed with same kind of dosage. In addition to understanding of systems of body, we should also know about personal diseases variants, history of disease in family and rate of susceptibility, so that designing of drugs can be based on decisions on family, clinical and demographic variables [5]. As noted, personalized medicine initiatives are now used actively in medical schools and organizations. One such resource for this kind of initiatives is Personalized Medical Coalition which was established in 2004. PMC’s are policymakers which promote and educate new way of healthcare and seeks the advancement in understanding of concepts and products of Personalized Medicine. Personalized Medicine for Cancer: Cancers are now days detected at an alarming rate and there treatment is slow as patient care is done by studying their symptoms and types of medications they are taking. Advancements of technologies have led to the detection of cancer in person before any signs of symptoms. These types of detection help in diagnosing hereditary cancers. Hereditary cancers constitute only 10-15% of all types of cancer but constitutes major part of medical genetics. Other types of cancers are caused by various environmental factors, living styles and different infections. This type of information helps researchers in detecting the development of any type of cancer in person’s lifetime. Pathological diagnosis is used in nowadays, in which biomarkers are identified within the samples which can be epigenetic, biochemical or genetic in nature. Increment of more than one marker increases the sensitivity and specificity for cancer detection, which helps physician in detecting cancer at an early stage. This type of diagnosis is regarded as gold standard in clinical trials [6]. Targeted treatments are one example of personalized medicine in which cancer specific genes are targeted which are responsible for cancer growth. Once the target is identified, then the therapy will try to prevent receptor, from binding to target which normally activates the mechanisms of cancer. This is generally achieved by doing biopsy (removal of small amount of tissue). Breast cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer are types of cancer for which targeted treatments are available [7]. Pharmacogenomics is another type of approach used under Personalized Medicine. It is a type of genetic testing in which patients are tested for the presence of certain types of genes. This is done, by studying the variation of how different people respond to same drugs. If their systems respond slowly (converting drugs into active form) then they have to be activated by administering the enzymes which helps in activating the drug. And if drugs are present in large amount, then to deactivate (turn off) them again certain molecules are required. Otherwise, they will be present in the bloodstream and can cause side effects. Although pharmacogenomics is a new field but it holds a promise to treat certain types of cancer. Pharmacogenomics helps to identify patients who can produce severe side effects if they take certain types of drugs, thus enabling doctors to optimize the dose according to patients systems so as to prevent any side effects. Meanwhile, this approach is very expensive as costs of available tests are not covered under insurance plans. Colorectal cancer and acute lymphoblastic leukemia are certain types of drugs which are treated with this approach [8]. Personalized Medicine Treatments for various types of cancer: 1) Ovarian Cancer: It is one of the deadly gynecological cancers in women. During, the early stages women do not produce any clinical symptoms and by the time they observe any unusual symptoms, cancer reaches at its advanced stage. Every year, more than 1,40,000 and 15,000 deaths occurs worldwide and in U.S respectively due to ovarian cancer [9]. As ovarian cancer is not detected at advanced stage, assays are performed on people’s urine and tissue samples for detection of potential biomarkers. CA125 and HE4 are FDA approved biomarkers used in the screening of ovarian cancer. But, CA125 alone does not meet clinical standard as it lacks both specificity and sensitivity [10]. Although, no single biomarker can provide the information for treatment and diagnosis of cancer, so researchers shift their interest to using different biomarkers in combination. For example, HE4 biomarker if used with CA125 can produce high sensitivity and specificity [11]. Using serum biomarkers for early detection of cancer have one advantage as drawing a blood is minimally invasive in nature and patients are willing to provide bold rather than tissue samples. Participation of individuals and introduction of molecular markers has paved the ways for personalized medicine. These above combinations can help in improving the survival rate of ovarian cancer patients. Validation of the different biomarkers will ensure personalized medicine and increase productivity. 2) Breast Cancer: It is one of the leading cancers in women worldwide. Genetic and environmental factors some of the factors responsible for breast cancer. Approaches like mammogram have been adopted by large number of populations as a preventive measure. Interventions can be helpful in detecting and preventing cancer but due to different genetic backgrounds and susceptibility rates to environmental factors they are not always successful. CYP2D6 genotyping generates the interest in personalized medicine by treating breast cancer using tamoxifen [12]. Tamoxifen is activated by Cytochrome P450 and forms active metabolites 4-hydroxytamoxifen and endoxifen. These metaboloites have affinity towards the steroid receptor compared to tamoxifen [13]. So, CYP2D6 is suggested to be associated with high recurrence of breast cancer. Thus genotyping of CYP2D6 before treatment may predict response to treatment [14]. As pharmacogenomics based approaches use CYP2D6 genotyping to have an idea about personal metabolizer phenotype, intelligent clinical decision can be made considering CYP2D6 inhibitors which may inactivate active metabolites. “Omics” such as genomics, proteomics and transcriptomics can provide good information regarding personalized medicine for breast cancer and can be helpful in screening cells at different stages of cancer leading to novel therapeutic target identification and validation of known targets. 3) Colorectal Cancer: It is the third most common cancer worldwide. Data available from hospitals shows that immigrants to U.K and U.S.A from Asian countries are more prone to rectal cancers [15]. There are mainly two types of genomic instability: Chromosomal Instability and Microsatellite instability which leads to colorectal cancer. Pharmacogenomics can be put into the practice for treatment of colorectal cancer. Researchers have studied that people with colorectal cancer have specific gene variation which can prove life threatening when treated with irinotecan (Camptosar). So after studying these effects, healthcare professionals can able to provide lower amounts of irinotecan to prevent side effects. 4) Lymphoma: Lymphoma is a cancer of lymph nodes which is present as a solid tumor in lymphoid cells. Erlotinib and crizotinib are two drugs designed for treatment of lymphoma cancer. But these drugs are always not effective always, so concept of personalized medicine is introduced for diagnosis of this cancer [16]. Erlotinib and crizotinib were not able to affect the various pathways of metagenesis, so human recombinant DNAse I-based drugs are being developed [17]. In this way, mismatched polymorphic genes gives response to treatment. Personalized medicine across the globe: U.S and Europe are the two countries which had done extensive research in the field of individualized therapy. They are able to provide personal treatments to their people. Main reason that they are ahead in this field is, that they get enough grant by their government to do research. Now many Asians countries have also started various projects considering patients from their countries as people around the globe have different immune mechanisms depending upon various factors such as environmental factors, their genotypes and living lifestyle. There is one project going on in National University of Singapore where researchers are trying to differentiate between signal pathways in Asians and European cancer cells. These kind of researches helps to differentiate the metabolism of healthy and degenerated cells and to trace the active substances. Researchers were able to detect these type of differences when they were doing the analysis on patients with lung tumors administered with therapeutic agents. What they found was that women with Asian origin yielded good results as they were highly sensitive to the drugs they were given as compared to European women. This was because Asian women have specific gene mutation which made them highly sensitive to the drug [18]. These kind of researches and projects give a boost to the usage of personalized medicine. Future Prospective of Personalized Medicine: Human Genome Project is the foundation of personalized medicine. It is because of HGP researchers are able to map the genotype and to make drugs against deadly diseases. For these reasons, personalized medicine is of great interest now days between people and researchers. But it offers many challenges too, first it is very expensive and only a small amount of people can afford it. Secondly, it does not provide hundred percent guarantee to cure the disease. So, to combat these problems, together healthcare and researchers are doing research to make the concept of individualized therapy true and affordable. Today, the medicine is undergoing the revolution to provide better healthcare by focusing more on prevention of diseases, rather than looking more on illness. P4 is the new concept which is based on four notions which are: personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory. Researchers assume that it will focus more on wellness and will be more cost effective in nature. Advantages of P4 Medicine to the patients considering their systems are as follows: a. Shift the prominence from prevention of disease to wellness b. Helps in detecting disease such as cancer at an earlier stage, when it is easier and less expensive to treat effectively c. Decrease the side effects of drugs by doing individual assessment. d. Divides the patients into various groups depending on their living style, their region of stay so as to provide optimize therapy according to patient. e. Reduce the cost and time rate of clinical trials for new therapies. f. Helps in selecting new biochemical targets for drug discovery. P4 is determined to provide good outcomes which will empower both patient and physicians. Having immense and accurate information about patient will helps doctors to optimize medicine and to make decisions for their patient, which is the central theme of the P4 medicine. This can be achieved only if our governments promotes the required research by granting funds and able to deals with challenges posed by society on this P4 medicine. Overcoming these challenges, will helps in full realization of personalized medicine [19]. Conclusion: Personalized Medicine is now a “dream comes true” in the medical industry. It helps to design the medicines according to the particular population to combat the diseases, which otherwise other medicines failed to do so. But this will also create new challenges, such as healthcare professionals have to change their practice needs and should have good knowledge about patient’s background and disease history. And, sometimes people don’t feel comfortable in giving their details, which is a biggest obstacle. So it is the responsibility of researchers and students like us to aware them that how individualized therapies will help in curing their disease if they give their detailed history (including places they lived and their lifestyle). If this will be possible then new health and insurance plans will be made which will be able to cover the cost of personalized medicine. There is a hope that if researchers, healthcare professionals and business personalities come together they will able to reach milestones in systems biology and personalized medicine
It helps medics to find a direct genetic cause of the patient’s condition and target it with pharmaceutical or other therapies. The technology is used for the identification of DNA sequences that increase risks of current diseases and disorders; with this information carriers can start to make efforts to prevent them before the development of the problem. The video mentioned 200 actionable genes, structures that have direct links with a specific condition. Knowing about their presence, people have a chance to bring in preventive measures like taking anticoagulants in the case of identification of a thrombogenic gene. The technology led to the significant improvement of diagnostics and personalized treatments. It helped to find a rare, life-threatening mutation in case of Beery twins and assign a drug to a girl (Alexis) that returned her to a normal life. In the case of cancer genome sequencing led to the development of genetic drags, which target essential tumor genes and make malign structures to shrink. The video mentioned a product that works with the BRАF protein that induces cells to uncontrolled division; the drug led to the remission in the patient with metastasizing melanoma. Such treatment was effective in the case of cystic fibrosis. In the case of the breast cancer the technology helps to evaluate the aggressiveness of the condition and make a personalized decision about chemotherapy. The video also mentioned the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis – an early-staged technology that prevents the development of inherited disorders in
Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to provide care assistance to those in need. As a health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente provides preventive care such as prenatal care, immunizations, diagnostics, hospital medical and pharmacy services. Also, they take responsibility and provide exceptional training for their future health professionals for better clinical performance and treatment for the patients. The organization is to ensure fair and proper treatment towards their employees for a pleasant working environment in hospital and to provide medical services especially in a growing population in suburban communities, such as Tracy and Stockton in California.
In 1990, the first great stride of genetics took place. This was called the Human Genome Project, a large-scale operation that was designed to understand the human genome (genetic structure). Since its commencement, there have been many leaps and bounds that have taken place. For certain genetic issues that we once knew nothing about, we no...
This assignment will discuss the professional, legal and ethical issues related to the self-use of medication by nurses. It will also explore the importance of reporting this misconduct by both professionals in the scenario and how they might do so. The self-use of medication by nurses is not allowed or justifiable according to the guidance provided to nurses by An Bord Altranais (ABA 2007). It will also be evident throughout this assignment the need for Jack to report Linda’s self-use of the medication or urge Linda to do so regardless of the consequences it may present to both him and Linda as according to Nurses and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI 2013), nurses can now be held responsible for not taking action. This is because delivering the greatest level of care to a patient is an essential role of a nurse and the main focus of the nurse’s work should be on caring for that patient (ABA 2010). There is also an ethical duty upon both nurses to report the misconduct according to the four ethical principles; Beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy (Edwards 2009).
In the future, computing power will become greater and greater allowing for faster calculations and analysis of sequencing data. Also, there will be new robotics, micro-fabrication technologies and laboratory information management systems that will have to be applied to the challenges of the Human Genome Project (Bishop, 137). Furthermore, cutting edge researchers believe the really important discoveries won't come from looking at linear strands of genes but from examining the interaction between dozens of genes at once. Scientists could in theory use "biochips," arrays of hundreds of bits of your DNA placed in a silicon wafer, to examine how how a drug would interact with your particular biochemistry (Moore, 56).
Once the project began in 1990, fewer than one hundred human sickness genes had been known. At the project 's conclusion in 2003, the quantity of known sickness genes had up to over fourteen-hundred, however, the human order project centered on the polymer sequence of a personal. The results of human genome project results in significant improvement of the medicines for different diseases. The project initiated by the government enables the researchers and the doctors to understand the etiology of less known disease. After knowing the factors behind the disease, researchers tried to find out the medicines which could treat those diseases and diminish their effects. It also made the world aware of the fact that genes could be used for the research and medical purposes in the field of medicine. As a result of this project, it became very easy to produce the clones and the genes by performing the gene sequencing and different analysis on the genes of a person. The future of this project, doctors will become completely able to understand the hidden causes of the disease which will later on help in understanding the management of their
Health issues throughout the human lifespan are always hard to deal with. In this essay, I will give examples of different health issues that occur throughout the lifespan of a human. The seven different stages of a human’s lifespan include: infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. By the concluding paragraph of this essay, you will have gained knowledge of some of the health related issues of a given person throughout their lifespan.
Personalized medicine through the development of modern methods of molecular biology offers application of a suitable drug to the appropriate patient at the right time. The vision of personalized medicine has begun in 1990’s when the molecular research and knowledge about proteomic, genomics and genetic testing escalated. Since then pharmaceutical com-panies, scientists and regulators needed to meet the challenges that the vision was bringing with. Right now “The era of personalised medicine is already upon us” In this paper I am going to discuss this new way of dealing with diseases including several issues which are im-plemented in this section of medicine, these are as follow:
With today’s technology, we are capable of doing countless features such as coming up with new medical innovations to treat diseases and other medical related issues. Since we now
In June 2000, the publicly funded Human Genome Project (HGP) and the private firm Celera Genomics Inc. announced that they had completed sequencing the human genome. This unprecedented accomplishment is expected to enable doctors to diagnose, treat and even prevent numerous genetic diseases. As these two entities worked on sequencing the human genome, there was also a separate and less publicized race to patent as many human genes as possible.
Role of Prescriptions for Communication and Satisfaction in Patient-Physician Consultations Introduction: The idea that physicians know the most appropriate treatment measures for patient sickness is outdated (Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 1997), and patient participation in physician consultations is now heavily emphasized in treatment decision-making (Charles et al. 1997:830). However, there is a complexity to patient-physician relationships which is difficult to quantify in a single study, and for the purpose of this essay the function of prescriptions and medication will be critiqued in relation to patient-physician understanding in their interactions. Anthropological analyses of pharmaceuticals have focused on the sociocultural power and value of medications in the construction of illness narratives, which is argued to directly influence patient-physician relations (Iyer 2016:19). Studies which will be discussed in more detail in the following, have highlighted the value of shared decision-making in regards to the role prescriptions and medication serve in patient-physician consultations.
Another area of medical advancement is genetic engineering. Genetic engineering will detect and possibly stop diseases before birth. Many diseases are associated with specific genes that can be checked for disease and replaced if dysfunctional. Genetic testing has already revealed genetic mutations that cause hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer, polycystic kidney disease, Alzheimers disease, and others. (5) Replacing missing, altered, inactive, or dysfunctional genes will prevent diseases or even death. Also, progression of a disease can be monitored, and
Education is neither linear nor static. It requires evolution and fluctuations. I received my undergraduate degree in Exercise Science at UNC Charlotte, and now it is time for a prime conversion to be made. Attending the Masters of Public Health program at UNC Charlotte would open the door for me to pursue my career aspirations in health care. Specifically, I am interested in epidemiological methods in community health. My ambition, perseverance, and work ethic have brought me to a high point, and enrolling in the Masters in Public Health program would raise that threshold even higher.
Healthcare scientists usually carry out a variety of clinical tests in order to obtain accurate and reliable results. In order to introduce new tests into this routine, we must first determine the sensitivity and specificity of the potential test. Sensitivity is the ability of a test to identify true positives within a population. In a clinical setting, the sensitivity of the test determines its ability to correctly identify a patient with a disease.
My personal health has been something I constantly think about. Whether it’s myself, my parents, my doctor, or others that bring it up, I’m reminded that I need to eat healthier or exercise more, etc. I know that I need to get better about what I eat and try to work more exercise into my daily routine, I just find it hard to find the motivation to go and actually accomplish what I know that I need to do. Especially in today’s society where we’re surrounded by a lot of non-healthy food, and getting access to healthy food is more expensive than the latter, it’s hard to make the better choice and choose the healthy option. I’m hoping now that I’m in college that I’m able to get better at taking care of myself than I have in the past.