The emerging roles of NGS in clinical oncology and personalized medicine

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been increasingly popular in genomics studies over the last decade, as new sequencing technology has been created and improved. Recently, NGS started to be used in clinical oncology to improve cancer therapy through diverse modalities ranging from finding novel and rare cancer mutations, discovering cancer mutation carriers to reaching specific therapeutic approaches known as personalized medicine (PM). PM has the potential to minimize medical expenses by shifting the current traditional medical approach of treating cancer and other diseases to an individualized preventive and predictive approach. Currently, NGS can speed up in the early diagnosis of diseases and discover pharmacogenetic markers that help in personalizing therapies. Despite the tremendous growth in our understanding of genetics, NGS holds the added advantage of providing more comprehensive picture of cancer landscape and uncovering cancer development pathways. In this review, we provided a complete overview of potential NGS applications in scientific and clinical oncology, with a particular emphasis on pharmacogenomics in the direction of precision medicine treatment options.

Automated summary

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has become increasingly popular in genomics studies due to advancements in sequencing technology. It is now being utilized in clinical oncology to improve cancer therapy through various approaches, including finding cancer mutations, identifying carriers of these mutations, and implementing personalized medicine. Personalized medicine has the potential to reduce medical expenses by shifting towards an individualized preventive and predictive approach. NGS can accelerate early disease diagnosis and discover pharmacogenetic markers that aid in personalized therapies. Additionally, NGS provides a more comprehensive understanding of cancer and uncovers pathways of cancer development.