With the development of molecular biology of tumor, the concept of tumor therapy is constantly updated, and the anti-tumor drugs, especially the targeted therapy drugs, are changing rapidly, which makes the precision therapy of tumor attract the attention of scientists and clinical experts. The development of medical oncology in recent times can be divided into three stages: the traditional cytotoxic drug therapy stage, the emerging molecular targeted therapy stage, and the expected precision therapy stage. The insurmountable limitations of cytotoxic drug therapy Cytotoxic drug therapy is the traditional method of medical oncology treatment, but there are its insurmountable limitations. First of all, because cytotoxic drugs have the effect of killing normal tissue cells, the toxic side effects brought by the anti-tumor therapy are not tolerated by many patients. Furthermore, cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs have poor efficacy in treating tumor types that are not sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs. In addition, after a period of application, some tumors may develop drug resistance, which leads to poor treatment effect or even tumor recurrence and metastasis. These problems have not been overcome until today, and the development of anti-tumor cytotoxic drug therapy has entered a bottleneck stage. Molecular targeted therapy The hope of medical oncology treatment With the progress of molecular biology of tumor, scientists have more new understanding of tumor disease. Cancer is no longer a single disease, and the classification according to molecular subtypes can be multiple. For example, breast cancer can be classified into four subtypes: hormone receptor positive and Her2 negative; hormone receptor positive and Her2 positive; hormone receptor negative and Her2 positive; and triple negative. Clinicians have to select the appropriate anti-target drugs and treatment regimens for breast cancer patients according to the different subtypes. However, with the application of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKI), the problem of tumor drug resistance continues to emerge. However, the emergence of a series of new targeted drugs has shown scientists and oncologists the light, and in 2014 alone, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nine new antitumor drugs, and all of them are targeted therapeutics. This shows that targeted therapy brings hope to tumor patients, especially refractory and drug-resistant patients. Precision Therapy Revolutionary Change Precision medicine is a new medical model based on individualization, genetic and proteomic research, and big data analysis as the main means. Its essence is to analyze and identify, validate and apply biomarkers for large samples of people and specific disease types, so as to precisely find the causes of diseases and therapeutic targets, combine molecular imaging and big data methods to formulate the best treatment plan, realize individualized and precise treatment for diseases and specific patients, and finally achieve the purpose of highly efficient, low toxicity and low cost treatment. With the continuous progress of genetic technology, the latest data of human genetic mapping shows that 90% of tumor patients have gene mutations, copy number changes and gene fusion phenomenon, so in the future, tumors may be classified by specific gene types, such as EGFR, HER2 and so on. This also means that the mainstream trend of tumor treatment will be “same disease, different treatment” and “different disease, same treatment”, i.e. patients with tumors in different organs with the same genetic alteration will receive the same drug treatment. Precision medicine allows patients to receive the right dose of drugs at the right time, thus achieving the best therapeutic effect, the least toxic side effects and the highest quality of life, and creating a revolutionary change by combining traditional cytotoxic drugs, molecular targeted drugs and immunotherapy. Tumor Precision Therapy: “Customized” Medical Treatment for Tumor Patients At present, both doctors and patients have hopes on precision medicine. As summarized by Zhan Qimin, a famous oncologist in China, precision medicine for tumor is a medical model based on “customized” medical treatment for tumor patients, which is mainly reflected in precision medical diagnosis and precision treatment. In the future, clinical research on anti-tumor will definitely take genes as clues to find out the driving genes of tumors and conduct translational research to guide clinical practice. For patients with drug resistance after effective standard treatment, in the absence of drug options, genetic sequencing of tissues or blood can be re-examined to observe whether there are new genetic variation problems, so as to find drugs that may be effective. Looking ahead, the road of anti-tumor precision therapy is still long because there are many factors affecting cancer treatment, including the disease itself, the patient’s previous condition, comorbidities, genetic background, lifestyle, and environmental factors. How to overcome tumors has always been a great challenge for scientists and oncology clinicians. Facing this challenge, one fact that cannot be ignored is that Chinese people have different epigenetics from foreigners and the differences in disease spectrum between Chinese tumors and European and American tumors. Therefore, Chinese people should finally study their own genetic data and come out with a more suitable path of anti-tumor precision therapy with Chinese characteristics. Tumor precision therapy is getting closer and closer!