Tremendous developments in the field of predictive biomarkers for treatment with targeted drugs together with impressive advances in the field of massive parallel sequencing (MPS) technologies have revolutionized the concept of personalized medicine in oncology. Although these developments hold great promise for our patients, we must be aware of important limitations and pitfalls in routine diagnostic high throughput sequencing. This includes scientific, technical, social but also economic aspects which have to be addressed. In this article, the respective topics are systematically analyzed and considerations and possible solutions for the successful implementation of MPS technologies into patient care are discussed.
Keywords: Biomarker; Neoplasms; Personalized medicine; Review; Signal transduction pathways.