Molecular oncology update: Breast cancer gene expression profiling

Abstract

Molecular Oncology has paved its way in the comprehensive cancer care, and its burgeoning role especially in the discovery of novel cellular targets is responsible for emergence of the new Paradigm called “Genomic Paradigm”, a shift from the old age “Clinico-Pathological Paradigm”. In breast cancer, till recently clinical decisions, prognostications, and predictions were based solely upon histopathologic analysis, or one or a small numbers of genes or their expressions (proteins) in the tumor tissue. With the advent of newer technologies like microarray, which allows us to read the “Molecular Signature” of an individual patient's tumor, the molecular information is exploited for novel targeted treatments and new biomarkers identification. This has led to better classification of cancers for prognostication and treatment selection. In this review we have summarized various Genomic Expression Profiling (GEP) which are available commercially or in different developmental phases.