Precision Medicine and Non-Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases: Fiction or Reality?

BACKGROUND: Non-colorectal liver metastases (nCRLM) constitute a variety of heterogeneous diseases and a considerable therapeutic challenge. Management is based on the primary tumor and the clinical course. In the era of precision medicine (PM) we know that cancer is heterogeneous within the tumor and across different sites. METHODS: We give an overview of the path to PM through ‘omics’ beyond genomics. We refer to the experience gained to date from models such as colorectal cancer and we discuss the opportunity offered by PM for the management of nCRLM. RESULTS: In order to best characterize and track tumor biological behaviors as well as to understand mechanisms of response to therapy and survival we suggest the application of novel clinical trial designs, a dynamic approach with serial monitoring involving evaluation of primary and metastatic sites. Quality and standardization of tissue acquisition and biobanking is a precondition for the reliability of this approach. CONCLUSION: The application of PM is increasingly becoming a reality. Elucidating the mysteries of tumors in complex settings can only be achieved with the approach PM offers. nCRLM may serve as a model for the application of PM principles and techniques in understanding individual diseases and also cancer as an entity and therapeutic challenge.