Molecular profiling of human cancer: new opportunities

Abstract

The Human Genome Project will be completed in the near future, providing new opportunities for researchers to better understand human biology. In order to maximize the value of the genetic data, high-throughput molecular analyses will become an essential experimental methodology, allowing global views of gene expression to be produced and examined. As an example, this approach will permit investigators studying cancer to comprehensively examine the genes and gene products whose alterations underlie tumor development and progression. This information will be essential in determining the fundamental causes of human neoplasms as well as having immediate practical value in the development of clinically useful diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets.