Clinical applications of microarrays in cancer

Abstract

Genetic alterations are important biological markers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, disease classification, risk stratification, and treatment selection. Microarray-based cytogenetic technology is a superb new method for evaluating cancer genomes. This technology offers high-resolution, highly accurate targeted and whole genome evaluation of tumor tissues independent of cell division. Application of microarray-based technology in cancer research has generated a wealth of useful information about copy number variations (CNVs) and their implications in cancer classification, disease progression, therapy response, and patient outcome. There is an increasing interest in the genetic diagnostic community in applying this new technology to cancer diagnosis in CLIA certified laboratories. We anticipate that microarray-based cancer cytogenetics will soon become one of the major diagnostic means for cancer genome analysis, especially for solid tumors and hematological malignancies with prominent genomic imbalances.