Gene Signatures Predict Response to Cancer Therapy

The objective of targeted cancer therapy is to identify tumor characteristics that indicate which specific treatment would provide the best outcome. Alternatively, a particular tumor signature could suggest that no benefit is likely from a certain cancer therapy and could lead clinicians to offer alternative standard therapies or investigational therapeutic approaches. Although we often use “targeted therapy” to mean therapy that includes monoclonal antibodies, noncytotoxic small molecules, or other innovative products, defining genomic signatures that predict whether a tumor will respond to any particular chemotherapy drug or combination regimen is in the realm of targeted therapy. Historically, hormone-receptor expression in breast cancer…