Imagine a patient with lung cancer going to the hospital once every three months to have his pills prescribed and then going back home to lead his life normally! This unique picture is not from a science fiction novel, it is the routine for many patients taking advantage of the extraordinary advances in targeted therapies.
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Their principle consists in identifying oncogenic addictions, that is to say the biological characteristics leading to the multiplication of cells and the appearance of the disease. It is then advisable to create drugs blocking the biological engines. If successful, the therapeutic response is rapid, deep and prolonged. Tumors can shrink by 80 to 90%. Or even disappear.
This principle has been used for several years, in particular for breast or prostate cancer (hormone therapy) and certain leukemias, but it was from the 2000s that systematic sequencing of tumors was launched in France.
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