Precision biotherapeutics, a new paradigm in healthcare, is the highly advancing field that leverages the concepts of biology, medicine, and technology. By leveraging high-throughput genomic and molecular techniques, the approach aims to provide personalized treatment based on the patient’s genetic composition. In a short article, we will transverse through the application and principles of precision biotherapeutics while highlighting its potential to revolutionize the era of disease diagnosis and treatment.

Utilizing the benefits of precision biotherapeutics as a preventive therapy requires a deep understanding of genetic variations that being a major driver, decides an individual’s susceptibility to different diseases, therapeutic responses, and signifies overall health. Therefore, examining a genome helps healthcare providers identify genetic markers associated either with a particular disease or drug-tolerant effect, and the information obtained could be tailored to potentiate treatment efficacy while minimizing its adverse effects. Recalling the conventional treatment approaches and their non-specific cellular targeting, precision therapy offers the advantage of being target-specific by modulating the diseased cell metabolism. This could be an underlying reason that has made it possible to precisely engineer transformed cells and compensate for the unfilled gaps in cancer treatment. In line, the discovery of checkpoint inhibitors has shown eliminating malignant cells; however, amalgamating the concepts of precision biology may enhance the immunotherapeutic effect and reverse tumor outcomes. Apparently, the era of precision biotherapeutics holds promise in genetically mutated rare health disease conditions. Assessing the mechanistic regulation of proteins and the underlying molecular defects could significantly enhance the overall survival rate and lessen patient burden. Beyond its applications in the discussed field, precision biology has been practiced in several domains, including autoimmune disorders, heart diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Nevertheless, integrating its principles in the real world seems a bit challenging. Ensuring consent for patient samples during the data collection and its high cost are primary obstacles that can make it less accessible in today’s world. Despite the limiting effect, its efficacy can fuel the pipeline for drug discovery and can improve the lives of diseased people.

Speaking in the context of lung cancer, the use of precision therapy has been exploited in several ways. Genetic profiling of tumor cells to identify genetic mutations has led to the discovery of different biomarkers that better correlate with patients with or without tumors. The use of erlotinib or gefitinib in EGFR-mutated patients could be a possible example. Harnessing patient cells and simulating their biological effect has replicated the concept of targeted drug delivery. Recently, the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has been utilized to specifically target the killing of cancer cells. Under the umbrella of precision therapeutics, all these alternatives have shown great promise in providing targeted therapies and effective cures.

RIYA KHILWANI

University/College name : National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune