Omics technologies applied in breast cancer research

Abstract

Omics are technologies used to quantify cellular components on a large scale. Studying the genome with high-throughput research tool gene expression profiling has produced a wide knowledge of the molecular level process of different pathologies, particularly about cancer. Omics technologies have been linked from the beginning to breast cancer research, achieving the exposure of cancer heterogeneity, its genomic complexity, and the molecular events that drive cancer biology. This whole set of genetic information brought the understanding of breast cancer as a heterogeneous disease with diverse morphologies, molecular characteristics, and clinical behavior; therefore omics technologies are currently being used to identify gene signatures in a need for more accurate diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. A valuable quantity of genetic information from breast cancer and multiple research groups is being publicly stored, and analyzing and integrating these will achieve a complete and deep understating of the pathogenesis of this disease and help to drastically improve its clinical outcome.