Predictive and prognostic markers in breast cancer treatment - Presentations at the 28th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2005

The increasing understanding of the pathophysiological background of breast cancer is associated with new molecular techniques, improved risk assessment, targeted therapy and individualized treatment. Gene expression profiling may provide predictive and prognostic gene signatures which could help characterize tumors and enable more tailored therapies. Beyond this, gene expression profiling allows us to better understand tumor development and can help identify new molecular markers which should be investigated in terms of specific clinical objectives. There is also an increasing trend towards translational research in large clinical trials which gives new insight into pathophysiology and the prediction of response according to specific therapeutic approaches. Even if the detection of new molecular markers gives rise to new hypotheses, most studies lack a prospective setting, and thus the use of identified markers or specific gene signatures in clinical routine is still limited.