Abstract

The rapid decline of sequencing costs brings hope that personal genome sequencing will become a common feature of medical practice. This series of three reviews aim to help non-geneticist clinicians to jump into the fast-moving field of personalized genetic medicine. In the first two articles, we covered the fundamental concepts of molecular genetics and the methodologies used in genetic epidemiology. In this third article, we discuss the evolution of personalized medicine and illustrate the most recent success in the fields of Mendelian and complex human diseases. We also address the challenges that currently limit the use of personalized medicine to its full potential.

Keywords: Clinical utility, ethics, next generation sequencing, pharmacogenetics, prediction, personalized medicine.