Abstract

Human cancers progress through accumulation of a remarkable number of genomic and epigenomic abnormalities. In some tumors, thousands of genes may be deregulated by these abnormalities. Moreover, the spectrum of abnormalities varies considerably between tumors-even those with similar clinical characteristics. This heterogeneity frustrates attempts to identify therapeutic points of attack and causes substantial heterogeneity in individual response. Fortunately, efficient, large-scale genomic analysis tools and biological resources that allow high-resolution genomic assessment of sufficiently large numbers of tumors are now available. This is significant in that recurrent abnormalities can be recognized and assessed biologically. This presentation will focus on these technologies and on lessons learned from their application to human breast and ovarian cancers.

© 2004 Optical Society of America