The Role of Personalized Medicine in Cancer Prevention, Early Detection, and Prognosis: A Review of Molecular Biomarkers, Genomics, and Emerging Diagnostic Technologies
Introduction: Cancer remains a major global public health challenge, and genetic, molecular, and environmental differences among patients complicate its diagnosis and management. Personalized medicine uses genomic information, molecular biomarkers, and advanced diagnostic technologies to identify individuals at increased risk, support early cancer detection, and improve prognostic assessment. This article reviews the role of personalized medicine in cancer prevention, early diagnosis, and prognosis, while examining the potential and limitations of emerging diagnostic approaches.
Methods: This article was prepared as a narrative review. Relevant scientific literature on personalized medicine, cancer biomarkers, genomics, risk-based screening, liquid biopsies, and molecular diagnostic technologies was considered. The review also addresses clinical applications, technical limitations, ethical considerations, and implementation challenges. For formal academic submission, the search strategy, databases, eligibility criteria, and search date should be explicitly documented.
Results: The reviewed evidence indicates that molecular biomarkers and genomic information can help identify individuals with inherited cancer susceptibility, improve risk stratification, and inform tailored screening strategies. Technologies such as next-generation sequencing, circulating tumor DNA analysis, and other molecular biomarkers may improve diagnostic assessment and disease monitoring. However, their performance depends on cancer type, disease stage, test sensitivity and specificity, and clinical context. False-positive and false-negative results, costs, and limited evidence for some screening applications remain important limitations.
Conclusion: Personalized medicine has considerable potential to improve cancer prevention, early detection, and prognostic assessment. Integrating genomic information with biomarkers and clinical evaluation may support more precise, individualized medical decisions. Nevertheless, broader implementation requires clinical validation, assessment of effectiveness and cost, protection of genetic data, and equitable access to diagnostic technologies.