Last week, we took a look at how mobile healthcare apps can personalize healthcare in ourblog post. While such apps represent an innovative way of measuring data and incentivizing a healthy lifestyle, there are also many other approaches to patient-tailored medicine that are currently being explored in the clinic.

In ourpodcastfeatured in Biome magazine and accompanyingforum articleinBMC Medicine,Daniel Hayesdiscusses the development of targeted therapy in oncology, where treatments such astrastuzumab– an antibody drug against the HER2 protein – are given to those with certain cancer subtypes. Hayes emphasizes that genomic sequencing and “big data” approaches using electronic medical records will pave the way for more application of personalized medicine in the future of oncology.

The management of diabetes is also becoming more tailored towards the individual patient as a result of more drugs being available, as well as a greater understanding of the targets for treatment. In light of improvements in the genetics and pathophysiology of diabetes in recent years,David Leslieargues for a patient-tailored rather than a guideline-led approach for its management. Leslie concludes that:

“…as we find more about the genetics that underline the process of diabetes, and as we identify more how one diabetic differs from another, so we will be able to identify drugs that are of specific value in that individual”

Turning to neurology, Hugh Markus from剑桥大学discusses how results from genome-wide association studies are increasing our understanding of stroke pathogenesis, which could lead to the development of tailored treatments through pharmacogenomics in the future. However, Markus cautions that using genetics to predict stroke risk in individual patient may be less useful than looking atconventional risk factorssuch as smoking and high blood pressure.

These three specialists highlight how different areas of medicine are advancing in terms of individualized risk prediction, diagnosis and treatment.BMC Medicine’s article collection onPersonalized medicine: genes, biomarkers and tailored treatmentremains open for submissions, and we look forward to publishing new studies demonstrating howpersonalized medicine is being applied across different therapeutic areas.

You can listen to our discussion with Daniel Hayes, David Leslie and Hugh Markus as part of our podcast onPersonalized medicine: risk prediction, targeted therapies and mobile health technologyhere, and read about how healthcare is becoming more individualized in ourforum article.