Personalized Medicine in Clinical Management of Breast Cancer: Where Do We Stand?

Breast cancer, the most common cancer occurring worldwide, is characterized by varied clinicopathological features. The current classification based on the immunological markers dictates the optimal treatment plan for breast cancer. Although there has been a decline in breast cancer-related mortality, the number of incidences has shot up in recent years, emphasizing the need for novel approaches to tackle this heterogeneous malady. With the advent of the omic era, next-generation sequencing analysis and reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) have brought a revolution in breast cancer diagnosis by analyzing expression signatures and mutational status of tumors. This has shifted the therapeutic approaches from disease-centric towards personalized treatments leading to precision therapeutics. Personalized medicine seeks to tailor an individual’s treatment plans based on molecular genetics and predisposition knowledge. This chapter highlights the recent technological strides made for the clinical management of breast cancer from diagnosis to treatment with consideration to personalized medicine.