Liquid dynamic medicine and N-of-1 clinical trials: A change of perspective in oncology research

Abstract

The increasing use of genomics to define the pattern of actionable mutations and to test and validate new therapies for individual cancer patients, and the growing application of liquid biopsy to dynamically track tumor evolution and to adapt molecularly targeted therapy according to the emergence of tumor clonal variants is shaping modern medical oncology., In order to better describe this new therapeutic paradigm we propose the term "Liquid dynamic medicine" in the place of "Personalized or Precision medicine". Clinical validation of the "Liquid dynamic medicine" approach is best captured by N-of-1 trials where each patient acts as tester and control of truly personalized therapies.