Microarray technology and cancer gene profiling

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease in most respects, including its cellularity, different genetic alterations and diverse clinical behaviors. Traditional molecular analyses are reductionist, assessing only one or a few genes at a time, thus working with a biologic model too specific and limited to confront a process whose clinical outcome is likely to be governed by the combined influence of many genes. The potential of functional genomics is enormous, because for each experiment, thousands of relevant observations can be made simultaneously. In the present book, written by leading experts in each field, the technical features characterizing this powerful laboratory tool are discussed, and the applications so far described in the field of oncology are reviewed.