Patient Stratification

Patient stratification is the process of categorizing patients into subgroups based on specific biological, clinical, or molecular characteristics in order to:

• Optimize treatment selection
• Predict therapy response
• Improve clinical outcomes
• Reduce adverse effects

• Precision oncology: Identifying patients with molecular alterations (e.g., EGFR mutations) for targeted therapies
• Clinical trials: Selecting suitable patients for inclusion or treatment arms
• Risk prediction: Estimating prognosis or likelihood of disease progression

• Genetic and molecular markers:
  • EGFR, ALK, KRAS mutations in NSCLC
  • IDH1/IDH2 mutations in gliomas
  • BRCA1/2 status in breast/ovarian cancer
• Tumor characteristics:
  • Grade, stage, histology
  • Proliferation index (e.g., Ki-67)
• Patient-specific factors:
  • Age, performance status
  • Comorbidities
  • Smoking history, environmental exposures

• Patients with activating EGFR mutations (e.g., exon 19 deletion, L858R) are eligible for EGFR-TKI therapy.
• Patients with T790M mutation post-resistance may benefit from third-generation TKIs like Osimertinib.

• Avoids over-treatment or under-treatment
• Enhances efficacy of targeted therapies
• Enables cost-effective healthcare delivery
• Supports personalized medicine

• Biomarkers
• Precision Medicine
• Companion Diagnostics
• Clinical Trial Design