Panomics

Panomics is a word I've been hearing in oncology lectures and reading about in oncology-related materials, but when Googling it, it had no clear definition. This week I received an email from the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) with a link to a document titled, "Accelerating Progress Against Cancer - ASCO's Blueprint for Transforming Clinical and Translational Research." A link to the document is at the bottom of this blog entry. Within this document, the word PANOMICS is used to refer to, "the combination of genes, proteins, molecular pathways, and unique patient characteristics which together drive the disease [cancer]." This document far exceeded my expectations as to deep thinking and actually does provide a roadmap for winning the war on cancer. It should be a must read for everyone in the cancer field - clinicians, researchers, and administrators. It's easy to read and short, but puts forth three simple guiding strategies.

It starts off compellingly by asking the reader to envisioning what the "patient" experience will look like in the future by tying together their genetic profile, all known medical information about that individuals at the touch of a button, and faster and smarter clinical trials. All this points clinicians to targeted therapies which have been shown to work in patients with a similar profile and steers them away from those therapies which have shown no benefit. The document talks about the importance of biomarkers and the leveraging of patient health information systems. It also lists three strategies to reach the goal of curing cancer. I won't articulated them here, but for those who are interested, please click on the link below and begin reading about wining the war on cancer.

Take care,
Ed

ASCO Article:

http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Department%20Content/Cancer%20Policy%20and%20Clinical%20Affairs/Downloads/Blueprint.pdf

Timeline of Cancer Progress - Explore 40 years of advancement in cancer treatment, detection, and prevention (a very cool interactive website referenced in the above document):

http://www.cancerprogress.net/
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