The molecularly targeted therapy paradigm has led to improvements in the management of patients with cancer. Responses to targeted therapies are, however, mostly short-lived, owing to inherent or acquired resistance, which in most cases relates to the outgrowth of pre-existent rare subclones harbouring resistance mutations. Our current understanding of this concept is reviewed herein; how knowledge of pre-existing resistance mechanism obtained through the use of ultra-sensitive sensitive DNA-sequencing assays might be best exploited to improve personalized medicine is discussed.
- Michael W. Schmitt
- Lawrence A. Loeb
- Jesse J. Salk
