Systems biology approaches in breast cancer studies

Abstract

Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy for women. Currently, only several prognostic and predictive factors are used clinically for managing breast cancer patients. Recently, systems biology approaches based on high-throughput technologies such as DNA microarrays, mass spectrometry-based proteomics and metabolomics have began to be used to investigate the expression of a wide range of genes and proteins in the dissected breast tumors. Moreover, these expression signatures have been found to provide potential and independent prognostic information in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Furthermore, these molecular signatures could not only help to identify new therapeutic targets, but also allow physicians to design more effective and targeted therapeutic strategies for achieving better treatment outcomes of breast cancer patients.