Gene signature

Abstract

In the past decade, there has been seen an increase in the number of cancer therapies that aim to circumscribe the spread and expansion of primary and metastatic tumors. A common characteristic among these therapies is their ability to target cancer progression via different pathways, which is fundamental to preventing successful tumor spreading and dissemination. Recent advancements in gene expression profiling have been fundamental in the identification of new cancer targets, and, consequently, improved targeted therapies have emerged as gene expression arrays, and DNA sequencing have enhanced our understanding of cancer genetics. Modern tumor pathology is now understood and studied at the molecular level ranging from immunohistochemistry (IHC) biomarkers to gene signature classifications and gene mutations, all of which provide significant knowledge about which patients will respond to targeted therapy regimens. We briefly discuss the common types of targeted therapies currently used clinically and provide a brief background on IHC, gene expression, and DNA sequencing technologies. We further provide a discussion on guided therapies and also focus on the appropriate targeted therapies and the pathways they inhibit. A number of prognostic gene expression signatures have been reported to predict survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We focus on the role of gene expression profiling in NSCLC as predictive and prognostic biomarker and its potential use for personalized therapy in the years to come.