Translating Next-Generation Sequencing from Clinical Trials to Clinical Practice for the Treatment of Advanced Cancers

Abstract

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is being applied in oncology care to identify specific molecular aberrations of patient’s tumors. The use of NGS now allows for sequencing entire human genomes within a reasonable cost and practical time frames for treatment decision making. Further delineation of epigenetics, transcriptomics, metagenomics and NGS at the level of circulating tumor DNA reveal ever increasing complexity to understand these interactions and the roles they play in cancer. With the improvement in understanding the study of proteomics, it has become clear that NGS has room for innovation to someday include sequencing of proteins. Early embarkation of NGS incorporated into clinical trials has begun. Here, we review the feasibility and practicality of translating NGS from clinical trials to clinical practice.

Keywords::

• epigenetics
• metagenomics
• molecular therapy
• next-generation sequencing
• somatic mutation

Acknowledgement

KR Dearing and GJ Weiss designed the review; KR Dearing retrieved the content for the review; both authors analyzed the data and wrote the paper.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

GJ Weiss has recieved honoraria from Eli Lily, Genentech, Caris, Medscape, Quintiles and pPfizer GJ Weiss has received research funding from Eli Lily. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

GJ Weiss has recieved honoraria from Eli Lily, Genentech, Caris, Medscape, Quintiles and pPfizer GJ Weiss has received research funding from Eli Lily. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.