Complexity of cancer as a genetic disease

Our understanding of cancer as a genetic disease is increasingly growing using information from genome-scale experimental approaches, and the focus is turning from analyzing single genes to analyzing signaling networks. Together with the first targeted therapy successes, this has resulted in an excitement and optimism in the field, while at the same time improved classification and diagnostics are identifying at increasing accuracy the patients who will benefit from a given therapy.

Keywords: cancer; genetic; targeted therapy; stroma; mutation; malignant